Anniversary

Today-- June 25, 2007-- marks two years since I was first diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. I'n here!!

It was in the Emergency Room at St. David's Hospital on 32d Street in Austin. Anna took me in there with the help of our trainer, Marc Heard, knowing that I'd resist, knowing that I'd argue we'd seen the cardiologist teh day before and he'd set up one more test for us on Tuesday (this was Saturday). They did the CBC three times-- not believing, not wanting to belive the counts they were getting: my white blood count was up at 238,000 (normal is something like 4,000-12,000). Dr. Kilbourn, who must have been on call for Southwest Regional that weekend, told me what I had, that it was "life-threatening(no kidding: I had 24-48 hours before my system shut down completely), and that while it was standdard to discuss treatment options with patients before starting treatment, for me "there were no options": we started treatment as soon as the right people and equipment could be assembled.

On my most recent trip to Seton I saw Dr. Kilbourn again. I shook his hand, said there was something I'd been waiting almost two years to tell him. I hard the wonder in his voice. "What?" he said, "Thank you," I said, and still he didn't get it. "For what?" he said. "You saved my life," I said. I started to tell him, and then he started to remember.

I remember. Thank you.