Thursday, September 11, 2008

I'm not taking a ride in a chemo limo

So on Wednesday I went back for my second blood test this week. Hypothetically speaking, I should have started chemo today. Yes, it's VAC time! I have become quite a connoisseur of toxic chemicals: vincristine, cytoxan, and the dreaded "red devil" adriamycin (shudder).

The key word in the last paragraph was "hypothetical." In the real world, where my bone marrow hates me, my body decided to stop producing white blood cells. The average person has 5,000 to 10,000 neutrophils, a kind of white blood cell, per milliliter of blood. I have 600. No, that's not missing a 0. This total crapola is a condition called "neutropenia."

This means that I can't get chemo. It also means that I am supposed to lock myself in a hermetically-sealed bubble in my house, insist that visitors enter a special decontamination chamber before risking personal contact, and obsessive-compulsively wipe down furniture and house pets with antibacterial wipes. If I venture outside, I must don a Hazmat-approved Biohazard suit. Yep. Call me Bubble Girl. Actually I am supposed to wear a surgical mask if I leave the house, but I have found that people refuse to get into public elevators with me when I do this. Hmmm, I wonder why?

So anyway, I will not be taking a ride in a chemo limo. Maybe next week?



Regina Spector is like a nouvelle Tori Amos. I absolutely adore her music; her exploration of human emotion through metaphor is just amazing.

1 comment:

Luke said...

Crap they took chemo limo off youtube for copyright stuff. Thanks for posting her on your blog. I like her music. Her song Boababs refer to The Little Prince which is one of my fav books.

Best wishes

Always