I am Arjun Jain

Monday Dec 17^th, I was all ready to go to the hospital with bags packed, food packed early morning with the hope that I will start my 3^rd phase today and will stay in hospital for 4 days. We were all nervous to find out my blood counts as we waited and waited in the waiting room. I was feeling restless and hungry since i did not eat for last 13 hours. Then the nurse came with the news that I did not want to hear. My ANC was only 360 and i could not start the next phase. I was not happy. But I told the doctor that let’s get over with the MRD test since I was already fasting. Doctor agreed with me and they took me to the surgery room to do the bone marrow aspiration. We were all disappointed but at least we had one thing to look forward to. We came back home but now praying for my MRD test results to come back negative.

The worst thing after the bone marrow aspiration was the pain in the back. It was hard to walk and climb the stairs. It was hard to move around in the bed and get comfortable. My dad had to help me the first day. Good thing that kept me distracted was attending the class through the robot.

We were going back to hospital on Thursday to get the results back and for my blood counts to go up. I know my mom was very nervous and I even saw some tears in her eyes the night before we were supposed to go. I could not sleep in my room so I went to my mom and we both started talking. I told her that I was just scared that my counts would not go up again and then I will have to come back. I was tired of back and forth.  My mom said that everything is going to be okay tomorrow. Then I started to think that there are so many kids in this world that get hurt like they break their collar bone or wrist, get pneumonia but it’s not fair that they do not get such special treatment like me. I wish the treatment was like the flu shot. I said to my mom that I feel like I have more medical bills than my brother has toys. My mom said that I should focus on getting better and nothing else.