I'm sure you remember the conversation about things working out for a reason, like with the plane at the airport and whatnot. I believe many things happen for a reason, and the reason I say the majority is because, at the end of the day, some people will still choose to either be ugly on the inside or do others wrong. But I also believe people change so that we can eventually learn to let go. I believe some things go wrong so that you appreciate them more when things go right, and at times, good things fall apart so even better things can fall together for the better. Well, if it wasn't for some significant things taking place in my life that would have made me really start viewing things in life that way.
This was when I found out I had cancer.
It was an everyday, routine doctor's appointment. I remember showing up to my appointment, which was just a medication update appointment that I had to do every six months when the nurse came out and told me to go to the lab for bloodwork. I remember being very annoyed with this, I'll be completely honest because I want to show that even when something seems obnoxious in the moment, it could just be saving your life. I was annoyed because in all the years, in all the times I had been in that facility for some kind of appointment, which was a lot — they had never required me to get blood work for a medication refill appointment. I had been struggling with fatigue and on my journey of finding what works best for my body, so I just wanted to hurry up and get the appointment over with so I could just go home and chill. I completed the appointment as usual, before Bryce and I made our way home — not expecting anything more from the appointment.
But that expectation didn't last long, because later that evening, I got a call from the facility after the close of the day outside operating hours, and quickly discovered that it was the doctor, herself, not a nurse or clinical aid or whatever, but the doctor herself called me. I knew something was off.
I sat down to hear her out when she told me she reviewed my bloodwork, my white blood cell count was elevated — which is normal for a person if they're having inflammation, or an infection present in the body. But, she continued, saying that my levels far exceeded what could be considered indicative of an infection, and was a common symptom for a rare form of leukemia. She sent me to an oncologist with an expedited referral, getting in quickly and promptly scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy. The results were back and on my thirtieth birthday, I was diagnosed with the rare form of leukemia that was most common in middle-aged white men.
Alright, so do your own research if you even care about it this much, but I'm gonna share what education on my leukemia that I understood to be happening. Normal white blood count levels range from doctor to doctor. Still, mostly white blood cell counts range from person to person, "normal" being anywhere between 4,000 to 18,000 cells per microliter, usually anything over that can be considered elevated depending on where the lab work is done. My levels before getting diagnosed, were 339,000 cells per microliter. So, from how I understood it, cancer has four stages, this leukemia being no different, therefore mine was caught at 98 point six percent, which was caught right in time in stage one, I took that to mean almost stage two. Finding this accidentally really made me keep closer tabs on my health. I now urge people to get routine physicals with regular bloodwork, as I showed no symptoms of this whatsoever, I felt relatively fine outside the usual.
With this kind of leukemia, you take what is technically an oral, pill-form kind of chemotherapy, and there are only five different kinds of those types of medications on the market for this specific form of leukemia. A stem cell transplant is out of the question, as chances of coming off the table alive are — pretty risky. So, once I've exhausted all the oral options, unless more are made available, I'm out of options. I'm very careful with taking my medication regularly and making sure that doesn't happen, as I'm already on option number two. I'll stay in remission so long as I continue taking my medicine, as the condition is chronic.
So that's how I would explain my cancer diagnosis.