NE Atlanta News

David Fussell of Canton says he’s always considered himself healthy, but in February 2019 he began experiencing unexplained fatigue. He and his wife Barbara had a cruise to the Panama Canal booked for late March.

“I knew I was sick but did not think it was serious,” David explained. “My fatigue became worse. I could not walk up one flight of steps without sitting down to rest, and my appetite was terrible. I might have been one of the few passengers on a cruise who lost weight.”

David called his doctor from the ship and scheduled an appointment for the day after he returned home.

At that appointment, David’s doctor suspected leukemia. Several blood tests and a bone marrow biopsy were ordered.

“When I arrived at the hospital [for the bone marrow biopsy], I was so weak, I could not walk the 100 feet … to the nurse’s station; I had to use a wheelchair,” David said. “The nurses told me my blood count was very low and they would give me two units of blood as soon as I got out of recovery.”

David’s biopsy confirmed leukemia. Barbara researched oncologists and made an appointment for David with Georgia Cancer Specialists’ Dr. Navneet Dhillon. Dr. Dhillon told David that his condition required him to be admitted to the inpatient Blood & Marrow Transplant (BMT) Unit at Northside Hospital and to expect a call from the hospital soon. David got that call before he left the parking lot. He was told to report at 8 a.m. the next day and to expect to be in the hospital for two to four weeks.

“I had never spent the night in a hospital … it happened so fast; my only reaction was shock,” David said. “I did not know enough to ask questions.”

David spent 33 days in the BMT unit at Northside and says he had “more tests, X-rays, IVs and pills than one could name.” But most difficult was not being able to see his five grandchildren, who were all under 12 at the time, or going to the lobby of the hospital to visit friends.

David says his family was very supportive. Barbara would spend every other night at the hospital with him.

“I could not have made it without her being in my room to talk with the nurses and doctors,” David said.

He also had visits from clergy and many friends, including friends he had not seen in years.

One close friend donated platelets several times during his hospital stay. A neighbor planted three blueberry bushes in David and Barbara’s backyard.

Original source can be found here.