Ready for a New Week!

What a week! As many of you know, I had a bone marrow biopsy last Friday. It usually only takes two or three days to get the results back. We usually just e-mail my doctor's nurse and she e-mails us right back saying everything is negative. So, I did just that and e-mailed the nurse. A few minutes later I got a call from my doctor's PA. He first started by telling me that my pcr (a sensitive test to ck for leukemia cells) and my bcr/abl (the test that cks for the ph + gene) were both negative. Then he said BUT they've detected 1% of b-cell leukemia/lymphoma in your bone marrow. I didn't know what to say back. I stood there in shock as he was trying to tell me "don't worry, we'll do another blood test in two weeks and another bone marrow biopsy in 4-6 weeks". In my mind I was thinking "is he crazy? This cancer grows so fast that in 4-6 weeks that 1% will be 100%!" So, we end the call and just like that every single emotion I felt when I was diagnosed just flooded me at once. I didn't know what else to do but of course call my Mom. My Mom and I decided we needed to go and talk to my doctor directly about these results and find out my options while it's still early. My Mom e-mailed his nurse first thing Tuesday morning asking for an appointment and also if she could get a faxed copy of the results. She got both! They gave us an appointment for that afternoon and she faxed the results. Upon viewing the report I realized it was actually 3% leukemia and not 1% like I was told over the phone (by the way, since when did doctors start giving less than good news over the phone anyway?). I felt even worse, because I had relapsed right before my transplant, and when I did I went from them seeing 1% to 3% to 8% in a matter of days in my blood and marrow. That afternoon we went to the clinic. My doctor came in and we discussed the report. After voicing our concerns he stated, "I strongly believe it's a mistake". Naturally, our next question was "why do you think that"? He basically said it's virtually impossible for the pcr and bcr/abl to be negative and the marrow show 3%, if that was the case then those tests would be showing positive. He also said they had new interns in the pathology department and had received a few sketchy reports over the last few weeks. I wont even go into my feelings on that. Oh wait, yes I will, just one comment; why in the heck would you call someone with those results if they had not been double checked or signed off on by the doctor in charge of those interns? That is all on that. So Monday I was basically told I was relapsing, Tuesday, "we think it's a mistake" to Wednesday night I got a fever that went up to 101.8 for no apparent reason the fever lasted about 5 hours then by morning everything was back to normal. Makes me wonder even more. Yesterday, I just laid low at home. I had a little less anxiety also. Today is Friday! And for myself, my Mom, Jenn, and Kim, we will be putting all this aside for one night to have a girls night of dinner and seeing comedian Anjelah Johnson at the House of Blues in Dallas.

P.S. We will be repeating the bone marrow biopsy on Wednesday October 5 (exactly one year since my diagnosis).

What is going to happen is going to happen. I have faith that this is all one big mistake, I truly do not believe God would have brought me this far for no reason. I will continue to fight this battle for as long as it takes.

Love,
Katie

6 Months post transplant!

Wow, 6 months since transplant! Not too much to report really. I did spend about 10 days in the hospital a few weeks ago with a lung infection. All better now, my new immune system must be working haha. I had my 6 month bone marrow biopsy yesterday, Jenn was with me and it actually went pretty quick! Then we ate and shopped most of the day. Getting ready for a few busy months coming up. Mom, Kim, Jenn and I will be going to see a comedian at the House of Blues next Friday...girls night out woo hoo! Then the family + Ryan and Rachel (the babies) will be going camping in October! Can't wait to fish with the babies. Hopefully they love it like mommy does! Then we have the LIGHT THE NIGHT WALK through the Leukemia and Lymphoma society Oct. 23rd! You can help saves lives by making a donation in my name at lightthenight.org and search my page via my name (Katie Maldonado), every little bit helps from $5 to any amount you want! Then of course Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are all busy busy, I'm sure you can all relate =) I went to a bone marrow survivor reunion at Baylor with my Mom and Jenn a few weeks ago and there was a man there named Jim Munroe. He is a magician but also had ALL ph+ (first person I've ever met in person). He was a great motivational speaker.

All in all I'm feeling great again, a little worried about cold and flu season coming up so I having a feeling I'll be doing a lot of shopping online this year for the holidays! lol I will definitely be bringing out the masks as places get more and more crowded....maybe some gloves too haha. October 5th will be one year since diagnosis and let me tell you, it feels like year(s) to me! We're all still fighting here and will continue to do so! An update on my friend Samantha - she is now at the Dana Farber clinic in Boston getting treatment and just found out she has 20 preliminary matches in the donor registry! This is great news for her!

Still Fighting,
Katie