GRATITUDES:
1. A quiet house
2. New learners’ permits
3. Having two cars again (if I’ve already mentioned this, it bears repeating)

Oy. It’s finally done. We have two newly permitted drivers under our roof! Now it’s time to contact our insurance company, report the change, and brace for impact as our rates suddenly skyrocket. The “de-lousing” at the DPS office went much more smoothly this time, despite one minor hiccup as I dashed out to the car to grab our proof of insurance slip in order to show a second document verifying our address. (Woulda been nice to know about that one beforehand but I should have expected it.) Lauren has since had her maiden voyage behind the wheel and other than a minor altercation with an Amazon delivery van, she didn’t do too badly. Basil will be taken out this afternoon after Rory takes Lauren to work. We’ve agreed that Rory will be doing the driver tutoring – I’ve no doubt that I would traumatize both kids if I attempted to teach them how to drive and they would end up hating me and swearing off driving a car for good. I have a hard enough time staying quiet in the passenger seat when Rory’s at the controls and I’ve gone into the reasons why in past blog posts, so no need to repeat myself. Geez, I wish I could just keep my mouth shut…😑

Not much has been happening, which is probably why I’ve been less than regular with my posts. I’m once again back in a holding pattern while The Powers That Be work on lining up additional appointments, donor approvals, ridiculously expensive lab tests, and the like. My next bone marrow biopsy and intrathecal are scheduled for the 28th of this month and the tissue sample will be shipped off to a lab for the MRD test. Everyone pray, chant, visualize, meditate, burn incense, or whatever the heck you most feel comfortable with, and hope for a Negative result. That will mean that my bloodstream has been purged of all roving mutant cells and I’m squeaky-clean. On a related topic: Dr. Santiago was adamant in his use of the past tense when speaking of my leukemia (“You had leukemia”), as was one of my nurses. That may be nothing more than wishful thinking but I choose to consider it a positive sign. Also, both Dr. Santiago and Dr. Bachiere are beginning to use the word “cure” rather than the phrase “long-term remission” when speaking about my prognosis. Umm… what? Seriously?!? Hell, yes, I’ll take that and run with it!😍

I seem to have developed a blister just underneath one corner of the PICC line dressing on my left arm. I thought it was a reaction to the adhesive at first but it’s only in one spot, which makes me wonder what’s going on. Maybe it’s an infected insect bite? There’s another smaller reddish patch along the edge of the bandage in another spot close by. I’m watching both areas and trying to keep the skin clean but I can’t wash those spots because I have to keep the dressing dry. I’m due for another dressing change on Monday and I’ll make a point of asking the home care nurse what she thinks may be causing the issue. Of course, I’d love to just yank out the whole stupid PICC line completely and use my port instead because the bandage is much smaller, but we’ll see.