So long, farewell!

My hematologist cleared me for take-off this past Friday – I won’t see him for another four months. According to my chart, “Nancy is doing well and looks like she is cured.”

I’m cured? Hallelujah!

It’s a very nice feeling, after more than 15 months of ongoing stress, to know that my ITP could be gone for good. And that if it does come back, we can do another four-week treatment of Rituxan with a reasonable expectation of success.

My hematologist gave me one last IVIG infusion before I start getting them at my immunologist’s office. I can’t lie – as fond as I am of the amazing nurses, it was a great feeling, settling in to the recliner and thinking, “One last time. I’m almost done!” Since my hypogammagloblulinemia is permanent, we’ll always have to boost my immune system with infusions, but that’s a lot less scary than my low platelet count was. Immune system deficiencies can have long-term consequences, but won’t send you to the hospital in a dramatic fashion.

I popped my customary pre-meds, Benadryl and Tylenol, around 9:30 a.m. By 10 a.m. I had already inflated my travel pillow, the Benadryl was in full effect, and I was ready to sit back, relax and nap during the next 3 hours of treatment.

Not so fast…

I had received an e-mail on Wednesday, informing me of an important departmental meeting at 10 a.m. on Friday that I needed to “make every effort to attend.” So I got a call-in number, dutifully dialed it at 9:58 a.m., and popped in my stereo headset so I could listen.

I heard most of it. Or, I thought I did, until I got to work that afternoon and asked what had happened during the last five minutes, when I was pretty sure I had already started sleeping. (My first clue was when I opened my eyes at 10:30 a.m. and the line was silent.) The more they filled me in, the more I realized I had probably heard the first 10 minutes, if that, and the last 20 minutes had floated along the edges of my consciousness. I had heard the meeting much like one sees the highway on a long drive – it was there, but you can’t really pick out anything specific afterwards.

Oh well, I tried. And at 10:30 a.m. I was still too groggy from Benadryl to think about anything. I just turned off my phone, adjusted my pillow, and dozed happily while the IV drip-drip-dripped away.

The best part?

In celebration of my final (for a while) hematology appointment, I was sent off with a prize – a Camouflage Barbie Band-Aid:

Jackpot!