Still Waiting...

Bill saw the oncologist today (after the snow-postponement last Thursday), however there was not as much to learn as we had hoped. The bone marrow and bone samples have been sent on to the University of Washington for further test results to help the doctors define and refine the diagnosis and determine a more specific range of treatment options. This is neither a good nor bad thing; it is just the science of medical determination, if you will. :-)

Dr. Cutter was, however, quite encouraging and buoying. He noted that Bill's white cell counts over the course of the month have actually been dropping a bit, which is certainly better than rising. He also noted that Bill has no other symptoms for his CLL and because of all the information they have thus far, although it is a psychological anxiety that we feel right now (and justifiably, he said), there is not a medical urgency for treatment. This was good to hear.

We will be checking each day or so to see when the results do come back to Dr. Cutter, and he will have a phone consultation with us at that time, so, I guess we'll just consider that "no news is good news" and hope for some final decision within a week or so. Until then, I'm getting old. Tomorrow (Jan. 25) I turn 62. Yikes! :-)

Winter!

Since we have no place we have to be any longer, we've been able to appreciate the beauty of snow in Seattle (Bill's oncology appointment today was turned into a phone consultation, but alas, the bone marrow results haven't come in yet. We rescheduled for Tuesday). This was taken Wednesday morning as I looked out into our new patio. The birds have been flocking around our feeders for hours on end for more than two days now; they seem to love the weather and the food!

Luckily, we have not suffered any power outage (yet!), so we remain toasty warm and totally connected via technology. Fun (when you are retired)!

Curve Balls

Sometimes life throws you a curve ball. It happened to us on Dec. 30th, 2011, when we learned that Bill probably had leukemia. For the 10 days following, waiting for further test results and a consultation with a specialist, everything seemed to go into slow motion. It's amazing how something like that just kicks you in the gut and makes you depressed, panicked, anxious, numb, and afraid. Bill is stoic; I am not, but both of us felt the pain and agony of waiting. The kids were traumatized.

Getting a diagnosis of any form of cancer is never "good news," but when we met with the specialist after our interminable wait, he did help buoy our spirits. It is CLL, a chronic form of the disease and considered highly treatable. There is no cure for leukemia, but there are a variety of chemo therapies used on CLL, depending on the stage and other factors, and we'll probably find out what Bill's treatment regime will be after Jan. 19th.

We haven't hit the curve ball out of the park yet, but the odds are in our favor, and I have ever bit of confidence that we will. :-)