vip club

Nine years ago my wife was pregnant with our first child and we were living in beautiful western Mass. Around her 8th month, or a bit before I became weaker. At first it was more difficult to walk up stairs without getting winded, later it was even more difficult. In September of that year I walked 60 blocks in New York City, in December I returned with my wife to watch the Nutcracker and found it hard to walk six blocks. Finally I went to a doctor and had a blood test. A quick call from the hospital reported that I was only operating on 40% of my blood supply. I had leukemia. I had a very rare leukemia called Hairy Cell Leukemia, which affects around 700 US citizens a year. Due to modern medicine, which has evolved to allow the patient more than a spleen removal, interferon treatments and two more years of life, today’s lucky card carrying Hairy Club member receives a week of Cladribine and usually the good news that the hairy cells have gone bald, that one is in remission, and that one is, “cured” from a disease that has no set cause. My possible link is that I spent my formative years on a farm. Could it be the pesticides used affected me while I ran through the fields ripping off corn ears and chucking them at Robbie and Dave? I don’t know
Cladrine does wonders. It causes no hair loss, I did not waste away, and it lasted for one week. I was declared to be in full remission, along with the other 80% of those Hairy Cell Club members who don’t get the Hairy Cell variant, which is more difficult to eradicate, or the Japanese variant, which I happen to know nothing about. However, my hairy cell days weren’t behind me. Along with the 80% of us who go into full remission, I found out recently I now belong to an even more exclusive group, those 40% who fall off the wagon and go out of remission.