Relapse

I didn’t want to kick-start this blog again. Ever.

But fate has cast her spell, and we’re back at war. Dori has relapsed. The leukemia is back.

The whole week has been terrible. On Monday, Chuck Hendry, Dori’s dear friend from 11 North at Vanderbilt, passed away after courageously battling AML. The beast didn’t win. Chuck did.

Cancer thinks it wins, but it’s wrong. Chuck faced his mortality with grace. His dignity and love for his family, his poise and fight, and his love for God in the face of being served up the biggest s**t sandwich of all were exemplary. His funeral was both hard and uplifting. We love him and will miss him, and we continue to pray for his wonderful family.

Dori called me Thursday at work from Vanderbilt with the words, “I don’t want to alarm you. My counts have dropped, and they’re concerned.” A few days earlier, Dori was running in 95 degree weather in South Carolina on vacation, biking with us and playing tennis. Run that by me again, sweetheart?

She decided she had to know, so she asked for a bone marrow biopsy. An hour later, Round 2 was no better. The blood work looks “suspicious,” we were told. That night, we were told they were almost sure it was back. Friday afternoon, they said they were sure. Relapse.

The exhausting week has been so hard that I’m looking for a descriptive word besides “surreal.” It won’t seem to do in this circumstance, when things had finally returned to normal in our lives.

We don’t know what’s next. We’ll enjoy the long weekend and regroup. We’ll be talking to the doctors next week when they’ve had time to analyze and suggest options.

Unfortunately, I’ll be in touch.