As we closed in our Tuesday phone consultation with Dr. Huggins I was wondering what I would find out from my blood test results. And then–amazement of amazements–at ten minutes till 3:00 PM Tuesday afternoon as I sat waiting for the appointed hour, we had an short and rather violent rainstorm. Worse, at five of 3:00, the power went out. Now power outtages are not necessarily surprising, so that was no big deal, but the bad news was that the requirement for this particular phone call was a land line, and not a cell phone. A land line that was now out of commission in our cell phone world. We have only one old plug-in phone that works during a power outtage, but it didn’t have speaker phone capabilities, which meant that Paul and I couldn’t listen at the same time.

 

Oddly enough, both Paul and I had the exact same reaction: Oh, doesn’t that just figure? It seems like we’ve been waiting forever to discuss my results, and having missed May’s results in Texas hadn’t made anything any easier. In the end though, we were able to use the cell phone afterall, and good thing, since the power didn’t come on until after 9:30 PM that night. So the meeting went on as scheduled when Dr. Huggins’ (who’s a little hard of hearing) allowed us to use Paul’s cell phone, which had a clear connection and speaker capabilities. So, unexpected delay taken care of, we began our consultation.

 

Dr. Huggins made short work of my new numbers, and his overall opinion was encouraging. Though I’ve had no change in my walking, the numbers are changing, and mostly for the better. The white blood cells are doing what they should, and he was pleased at what the lose-dose antibiotic had accomplished. After asking how to interpret the percentage numbers, I was given a brief lesson in interpreting several figures for myself (a good thing), and I was soon able to compare last October’s numbers to this July’s (another good thing). His final decision was for me to give things another month to see if something more improved, but if not, I would be going back on the antibiotic for another course. Personally I look forward to September, because it will bring more pleasant weather and less heat and humidity, which exacerbates my problems. It means I will still have another month of heat and struggle, but that would probably happen anyway. There is no quick fix here, but I can’t give up now.

 

After relaying to Joelle what Dr. Huggins had said (because she’d been at camp at the time), she got to work encouraging me by pointing out the good in a most delightful way. The next morning, she got up and stuck post-it notes in several places around the house (including one on my walker) with her take on what was really important about the results: Count your blessings!

 

And you know what? That’s not a bad response from a 12 year old.

 

экономист аналитик