I'm still shaking with excitement!!

I got the most exciting phone call earlier! It was my trial coordinator. I had called this morning and left her a voice mail asking if she had scheduled my dermatology appointment yet. Of course I was confused about how we left things -- whether I was supposed to call them directly or if she was going to set it up for me. Naturally, I was supposed to call myself. Oh well.

When she called she said she would hang up right then and get it scheduled and call me back.

When she called back she asked how many shots I had left.

"3" was my answer.

"How many pills?" she quizzed.

"Let me go get the bottle and count them, hang on. 25" was my reply.

She said my appointment with the dermatologist is this Thursday at 10:50. Then came the exciting part.

"I was thinking about this and if Berlin says your MRI is good and does not have to be redone, then after your dermatologist appointment everything will be done."

I said "Yes....??"

She said, "Well, then if Berlin says it's okay to move to extension phase, rather than wait until Sept. 3, we can do it next Monday instead."

I paused while it sank in.

"Are you still there, Jeri?" she asked.

"Oh YES! I'm still here! Just trying to believe what I'm hearing. You mean NO MORE SHOTS??!!"

She laughed her beautiful lyrical laugh and it rained over me like a soothing salve. "Yes, that's exactly what that means."

So...I'm not getting my hopes up, but my fingers are crossed, as well was my toes. I'm saying a little prayer that my MRI was good to go. It turns out that it doesn't matter WHAT it shows, just as long as the images were taken according to protocol.

I'm guessing that they were because the MRI technician (after peeling my keys off the tube and taking my dead ATM cards to the locker for me) told me that they were going to take a while because since I was in the clinical trial, they had to be done a certain way. That tells me that she was aware of how she had to do them even if she wasn't aware that my ATM cards should not go in the tube with me. Hopefully she got the important part right.

Thank goodness I took pictures while doing my last shot. I wanted to show a friend of mine how big the needle was.

Here's the last one...hopefully forever:









That's not easy to do one handed. Usually I'm grabbing my thigh and pinching up a big roll so I can trick myself into believing the needle won't come anywhere close to my bone if I do that. Just sticking it in with one hand while watching through the camera I was holding with the other was a really strange experience. It was like watching on TV and I wanted to look away but remembered that I really had to watch if I wanted to do it right. No changing the channel.

So, I hope I'm not speaking too soon and jinxing myself here, but that, folks, might be the last time I ever stuck myself with a needle. Ever.

I'd say "pinch me! I'm dreaming!" but it might feel too much like a shot and scare me.