Weekend Update 8/22

Hard to believe it has been so long since my last post!  The summer has been wonderful.  We've been to the beach, out on the boat, and spent a fair amount of time shopping and preparing for 'back to school and off to college'.  We had several of our Ohio cousins here for a week which was amazingly fun.  They went tubing, toured Boston, spent some time in York at the beach/arcade/Golden Rod candy shop and a day in Westport with my cousin Joe, Aunt Debbie and Joe's kids.  The day and the sea cooperated and we had a beautiful time with the kids body surfing and the adults sitting under umbrellas - now that is a beach day.

Over the summer my visits to the clinic have been pretty regular and uneventful - until last week.  My white counts and platelets were dropping slightly which was not a definative cause for concern.  At the time I had a slight cold which could cause the drop.  However they decided to do a Bone Marrow Biopsy to make sure the leukemia had not come back and sadly we have found that it has.  This is pretty new news and Jim and I will go in Monday to learn the game plan.  Basically it will be some form of boosting my donor stem cells and attacking the leukemia with chemo.  In a way they overlap because boosting my donor cells should give more power within my own body to attack the leukemia.

Here is a little more detail from a non-medical person still in a bit of shock and maybe not fully translating what the doctor said

• The leukemia is in my marrow but not yet in my blood stream.  This could change quickly as AML typically presents and develops rapidly.  
• There is a possibility the leukemia will not 'explode' in terms of growth as my donor immune system has been fighting it's progression.
• From the beginning I've known I have a particularly aggressive form of leukemia and the fact that it has come back so soon after the transplant bears this out,
• The transplant engraphment is a gradual process.  Right now I am 50% donor cells 50% me.  At one point the donor cells were higher and my doctor is thinking the leukemia may be the cause of reducing that percentage of donor cells.  Of the 50% that is me, about 20% are leukemia cells.
• When I went into the hospital in December of last year my marrow was 100% leukemia cells crowding out everything else,  I am at a much better starting point compared to that.

The goal is getting me back to remission which is realistic and the treatment outlined has a history of success with other patients.  I should know more Monday re: treatment plan and maybe disease progression.

In the meantime I still feel good - decent energy and appetite etc. - for which I am very grateful.

The kids know and are doing okay.  Joe is off to school on Tuesday and as of now I'll be able to take him with Jim which is awesome.

That's it for now - keep praying my good and wonderful friends.  Thanks for checking in

Love, Maureen