Tuesday December 22

Some solid holiday healing happening here in north Andover and Boston.

There are 3 sort of buckets to look at:

• Am I leukemia free?  Currently yes and that has been confirmed in my last bone marrow biopsy about  month ago.  We attribute this to clean living and a chemo pill I was taking pretty regularly that also has the important side benefit of boosting my healthy immune system.
• How do I stay leukemia free?  For this  I need a strong immune system and marrow that keeps producing  healthy cells. My donor cell infusion was  really helpful here as that resulted in a boost of my immune system.  In addition my marrow is now producing red, white blood cells and platelets requiring less frequent infusion.   My marrow has not been consistently productive since this past summer so this is huge.
• Minimizing or maximizing those crazy thing  that crop up. As I have complications like low blood pressure or fever I put myself in the capable hands of my medical team. I have  gotten red blood and  even gone back into the hospital always getting back to my baseline 

Current status. Still in the clinic every other day through next week at least. All numbers looking great. Blood counts are up (showing recovering marrow)  Liver numbers back to normal range. Most recent cardio echocardiogram shows me having   healthy normal heart infraction. Again first time since  this summer. Rash hanging  on but is indicative of strengthening immune system.

Emma has a Christmas pageant today that I will likely be able to make. Kids have been making Christmas cookies and helping with the last of the holiday prep. Jim is doing great and keeps it all together (especially with the unexpected week in the hospital ending last Friday)  All great here   

Thanks for checking in and Merriest of merries

Love Maureen