Those are heavy words to hear in a wrap up visit one hour before I have to rush to the airport. That's how it went though. Dr. Olson walked in saying those exact words. She was so relieved. She hugged me with tears in her eyes as she said it again with delight, "you don't have eosinophilic leukemia". She and Dr. Katial had been very concerned that it would be my diagnosis. It's not though!! (Let me tell ya though, even with the word NOT included, those words have a pretty hard impact when they're applied so close to home.) That's by far the biggest blessing of the week though! It's definitely something to celebrate. The preliminary results of the bone marrow biopsy are all they have so far, and all they know for certain is that it is NOT leukemia.
The next step is to wait. The rest of the results from the biopsy will be in by the middle of next week. Dr. Olson explained their expectations. It could be hypereosinophilic syndrome, Churg Strauss Syndrome, or terrible intrinsic asthma with high eosinophil counts. Regardless of the diagnosis, she said my treatment options have to change. Steroids do not work for my body anymore and have caused too much damage. There are chemo treatments or other therapies/antibodies they are going to try once a diagnosis is in place. Two of the possibilities are hydroxyurea or anti-interleukin-5 (IL5). She didn't go into details about prognosis or treatments for any of the possible outcomes. She said it would be best to discuss details when we know which one we are dealing with. As soon as the hospital calls with the results, all the doctors that treated or consulted on my case this week are going to have an interdisciplinary conference to create my treatment plan. She said she'll call as soon as she has any information.
That was the big news. On a smaller scale, she said tests confirmed I have an internal staph infection again. By Monday she will know which antibiotic she can prescribe for it and will call me with that information. We also discussed the dangerously low level of my current lung function and the fact that I'm heading back into a high risk environment Monday by going back to work. We were both concerned that I spiral downward too quickly before we will have time to get the new treatments started. She prescribed antibiotics and prednisone to get me back on track and stable.
She also increased my current asthma medications and added azithromycin, the antibiotic, three days per week. She said it would help to decrease lung inflammation. Many of the other tests from the week are still pending, so all of that information will also come later. For now, I'm thankful that I don't have leukemia and waiting hopefully to find out how to treat what I do have.
