Diagnosis: Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). A Journey

George received a notification today from Dr. Loren’s office asking him to confirm his upcoming appointment on Monday, the 21st of November. Wait, what? His appointment is on the 23rd! So we logged into the MyPenn account and saw that his appointment had been changed to the 21st (thanks for the heads up, yo) and that a bone marrow biopsy had been added. George had sent a message to the team a day or two ago saying that he had been thinking about what Dr. Loren said and that he was willing to undergo a biopsy whenever she thought best, even if it meant having one done without sedation/ interventional radiology. I guess today, we found out she thinks he should have one on Monday. This is, of course, due to the drop in the percentage of donor cells found in his lab results, indicating that his engraftment is struggling. They will also run another chimerism test from his blood draw.

So…that’s the latest. Right now, we are hoping for a clear biopsy result with no MRD (minimum residual disease) or signs of leukemia. George is nervous about having the bone marrow biopsy done in the office by Jackie, the NP instead of under sedation, but he will be fine. He can be a baby on the outside sometimes, but he is incredibly strong on the inside and pragmatic and will get through it like he has everything else since his diagnosis almost a year ago. He’s got this!