Yayyyy! I am accepted into the clinical trials! Whoo hoo! Now I am beginning to feel like I am part of an exclusive sorority! Cindy the clinical trials nurse called last night to tell me they had accepted me. And this morning she told me it looked like everything was in order but there were still a couple of things I needed to do. Like one more blood test. Andy is convinced that Kaiser is just short of blood and is telling people they are sick so they can keep sticking us up for blood. I am not convinced.
So, once again I went tearing down to Kaiser to get my blood drawn. Oy, this time the waiting room is almost full. I am 121 and they are calling 104 just to be registered. So I sit and wait. A teenage girl and her mother sit down next to me. The daughter wants to run to the car because she left her book there and she wants to read it. A girl after my own heart. A teenage reader! She is reading Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty! I tell her I met the author last year when she and Shannon Hale visited my library. The child practically swoons. We are kindred spirits! We discuss more books when my cell goes off and I am receiving a text message from the Clinical Nurse. I can't get phone reception but I can get text reception. Weird! I run out into the hall where there is a white phone hanging on the wall. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to use it but I'm 60 and insured (anybody get that quote?). So I dial the 4 digit number and she answers. She asks again about what drugs and supplements I am taking and for the 10,000th time I say no, no, no ad nauseum. But I don't mind answering the same questions over and over. I know they really have to make sure I am prime trials material. And I am. So back to the waiting room. I finally get called to register and tell the registration person that the clinical trials nurse has asked that they be careful because I had clumping platelets in my last blood draw. She smiles and says okay. I'm not convinced I've told the right person so about 10 minutes later when I do get called for the blood draw I tell the intern who draws my blood that I had clumping platelets last time. She also smiles but vigorously shakes the vial of blood after it is drawn. I guess that will do the trick.
I'm out the door and into the elevator. I'm smiling and happy that I have finished that last draw. I step out of the elevator. A woman stops me and says "oh, this label is stuck to your sweater". I look at it. It is one of the labels for one of the blood draws. Rather than take a chance that this is just a duplicate label, I go back down and approach an intake person and tell him my predicament. I'm not sure they got enough blood. He smiles and checks to see what is in the computer. Sure enough, they only took one vial and they needed two. He jumps out of his chair and says he'll do it right now. So back I go to the vampire people. One more draw. It is surprisingly painless. I am finished. And now I only have to show up on Tuesday morning to learn from the clinical trials nurse more about what exactly will happen in Chemo, get one more exam from the oncologist and have one more blood draw. I think. And then the next day Chemo will begin. I'm ecstatic! I'm finally going to get down to the nitty gritty of killing this evil thing. Yayyyyy!