Life with Cancer: How crazy do you get when you're waiting for medical results?
It's been way too long since we've heard from our favorite guest blogger, Lea. And...here she is. We missed you, Lea!
Hi everyone! It's Lea checking in, 10 whole months from my bone marrow transplant and doing really well. I am currently PCRU (they can't find the leukemia after looking at hundreds of cells) but I am waiting to hear back about my 9-month PCR test any day now. I get these tests done every three months. I had an appointment last Tuesday at UCSF with the transplant nurse. All of my labs look great but I am still so anxious about receiving the all-telling PCR test back (it has been over three weeks!). I spent the first two years with CML always getting "suboptimal" PCR results (their word, not mine!) but the past two PCR tests have been great and the nurse told me that I could just "wait" until my next appointment to find out the results. She said she was not concerned about them at all. Ha! Well, that makes one of us.
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Oh, I wish I could be that laid back about them! Why can't I be that patient/survivor who can wait a month for test results? Are there some of you out there who are like that? When will I have the confidence and turn the corner? Granted, I am not tossing and turning at night thinking about it, but it does enter my mind every day. I am guilty of calling different people at UCSF (the doctor, the PA, and the RN) to see if the results have come in! By calling different people, I think I am not pestering any one of them but it is a pathetic little game and I need to stop.
For the rest of my life there will be PCR tests and other medical tests. Any ideas on how I might improve my strategy in coping between the tests? As you can see, there is quite a bit of room for improvement!
Grateful and Happy,
Lea
Related: Find out your #1 cancer enemy.
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