The Devil We Know.

Well shoot, I didn’t want to be writing here again, that’s for sure. But by now you have likely learned that Scott has relapsed, and so we are kicking the blog back into gear to keep everyone informed and encouraged. I will admit that I have been dreading the first post… because it means its all happening again. Over the holidays we were able to be distracted a bit by the kids and chaos, and being thankful each time the doctor said Scott could sleep at home. But here we are, so I will fill you in…..

Long (eerily similar) story short, Scott went to the Oakville-Trafalgar ER on Friday December 20th, with a worry that things weren’t quite right in his body. After a cold/flu hitting the house, he had residual fatigue and just didn’t feel like he had bounced back like the rest of us had (sound familiar?). He felt that something was telling him his cancer was coming back, and though he has battled this fear before, it felt different this time. Full disclosure: what perpetrated the trip to the hospital was an argument (read:blowout) around how I felt Scott was not being productive (lazy) and not present (too much TV) which led to him explaining his feelings of anxiety around a relapse and how it was contributing to a lack of motivation/engagement. So (because I believe he is healthy) I encouraged (forced) him to head to the hospital for a blood test – if it was bad news, its better to get earlier than later – and if it was good news (what I expected) then everyone would have clear mind going into Christmas. I was more or less insensitively calling his bullshit – he would be back from the hospital in a couple hours with a clean bill of health, and I would be ready to hand over the vacuum when he returned. He eventually agreed to go, and obviously that didn’t happen.

Given his history, Scott was admitted to OT with abnormal blood counts and the explanation that further investigation needed to be done to determine if it was a bad virus or a relapse. He did not have any blasts in his blood – a piece of news that allowed us a sigh of relief, and to hope that it was in fact a nasty virus that would need some strong antibios and vitamin C. A bone marrow biopsy was scheduled for Monday so he stayed over a couple nights to get those antibiotics and antiviral meds and stay monitored.

On Monday morning, Scott’s nursed shared that there was 0.1% blasts in his blood taken earlier that day. We still held out hope that bad news wasn’t ahead, but I think we all knew where the diagnosis was headed (even if we didn’t share our fears with each other). Those fears were confirmed that afternoon when initial biopsy results were returned. I will spare you and not share the expletives that came out of my mouth.

He was promptly transferred to Juravinski where we were all keen to see him go, to be with his capable/caring team. Dr. L is ready to pop with a babe (the nerve!), so she will be on maternity leave this go round. We met his new haematologist,Dr.K, before Christmas, when she introduced herself with a compassionate smile and hug, assuring us that the team was confident Scott will be in remission again. Scott was happy to learn that Kristine, his Nurse Practitioner from the first time, is on his case again – ready to navigate him though this process. Because there was a significant amount of time before relapse, they are treating this like they did before: for a cure.

The difference with his diagnosis this time is that along with the AML we are familiar with, he also has characteristics of ALL – never a dull moment! From what I understand, this will alter the treatment plan and the drugs/chemos being used, but that ultimately he will have another stem cell transplant. And many have asked if Jeff will be the donor again, but at this point the search has been initiated for a new donor through the registry.

He started chemo today and has it multiple times a day for six days, which means he will be done on Thursday. And these are heavy hitters – one of them is the same drug that was not so friendly to Scott in re-induction. But we know from experience that though the next few weeks will be bah-ruutal for Scott, there will be healthier marrow on the other side.