Everything was moving at a pretty fast pace. The Hydroxeurea was doing its job for now and had lowered my white blood count to 26k in the three weeks that I had taken it. Sounds great but this drug only works for a short period of time. This is known. Dr. Topolsky arranged appointments for my family to receive blood tests to see if a match would be possible for my Transplant. Things were rolling along. The anticipation of the results was driving me crazy. It would be about two weeks. A positive match was crucial to my survival.
And my wife…she was wonderful. Working everyday, taking care of business around the house and five months into her pregnancy. Just amazing. I know she was hurting too. Same questions, same anxieties and probably the same mantra..”why me”. She never showed it though. Tough Italian girls from the Bronx are a rare breed. I was blessed to marry one.
Lori requested a special, non-scheduled, appointment to have another ultrasound done so we could find out the sex of our baby. She explained the circumstances to the OBGYN and they agreed to set it up. It had to be as soon as possible. In a few days we would find out.
The ultrasound tech knew why we were there when we walked into the exam room. The time had come to meet my unborn child. I would be going into the hospital, if everything went as expected, months before the baby was born. With 50/50 survival odds, I or we had a chance of never meeting. Can you imagine?
Well, after a couple minutes of preparation the verdict was in. No balloon popping, no cake cutting, no whatever reveal method you could think of. This was 1996. This was my miracle. If I had been diagnosed five months earlier we probably wouldn’t have gotten pregnant. After the transplant, it could never happen. The intense chemo would render me incapable. And there it was. The ultrasound screen showed us another beautiful baby boy! Coming soon…due around September 30th.
His name would be Joseph.
Up next: The Results Are In.
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