Remission accomplished!

We met with Dr. Waugh, the HemOnc this morning. The first thing she said was, "You are in remission." That was music to our ears! There was a caveat, however. In addition to leukemia, the most recent biopsy also revealed another bone marrow condition called systemic mastocytosis. This is apparently a rare condition that involves an excessive number of mast cells throughout the body. Mast cells are an important part of the immune system, but when they are in over-abundance, they can cause allergic type reactions. 

According to Dr. Waugh, this condition has probably been present for some time, but was masked by the high number of white cells in my blood prior to my first round of chemotherapy. She indicated that it does not alter the treatment plan for my AML, but needs to be monitored so that I don't have excessive allergic events. If I understood her correctly, this situation can be managed with anti-allergy medications like Zyrtec. 

So, what's next? I will be admitted to Sunnyside hospital on Wednesday for "consolidation chemotherapy," which is another round of treatments with Cytarabine that will span five days. This is the beginning of several (three to four) 28 day cycles that will include 5 days in the hospital for chemotherapy followed by 23 days of recovery. I think our son Patrick described this part of the treatment best when he said, "It's like the leukemia is down for the count, and the consolidation rounds are like beating up on it while it is down."  

So, the news today is good. We have more clarity about what to expect over the next few months, and we are encouraged about the future moving forward. Praise God!

Comments

  1. PapaAlanAugust 9, 2021 at 10:17 PM

    Our God is an Awesome God! I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. Thank you Tom for continuously encouraging words. Bless you brother.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jennifer RobertSeptember 1, 2021 at 6:15 AM

    Powerful Herbal treatment is 100% guarantee for SHINGLES cure, the reason why most people are finding it difficult to cure SHINGLES is because they believe on medical report, drugs and medical treatments which is not helpful to cure SHINGLES and hasn't proved any sign of helping. Natural roots/herbs are the best remedy which can easily eradicate SHINGLES forever. I never believed it until I was helped with natural herbal medicines , Where other medical prescribed drugs and treatments failed, Natural herbs helped saved me and i am so grateful for this. You can also get help from this great and powerful herbs can also contact Dr Chike via Facebook page @ Dr Chike Herbal Remedy. Or text/call via: +1 (719) 629 0982

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Anniversary

Today is our wedding anniversary. Jill has survived 21 years with me. Our marriage is old enough to drink!! In many ways, it seems like only a couple of years since our wedding day, and in other ways it seems as if we have always been us. This, I believe, is what is referred to in the fairy tales as "wedded bliss." Only, in our case, it isn't a fairy tale at all. It's just, well...wedded bliss. How I love that girl! A year ago today, I finished my induction chemotherapy at Club Sunnyside. Jill picked up German food at Gustav's, which is across the street from the hospital campus. She also picked up Bundt cakes from "Nothing Bundt Cake;" a little one for us and a big one for the oncology staff. It was as fine a celebration as we could muster under the circumstances, and one we will never forget.  Today we had a morning clinic visit. This time for Jill's blood pressure, which with the help of a new medication added to her regimen, is perfect, thank you...
Read more

A Dream Come True

Image
BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 11 13-17 ^ Platelets 89 140-375 v ANC 2810 1800-8300 ^ When I was a youngster, probably about 10 years old, my dad introduced me to model making. Mainly we built models from kits, but Dad also taught me how to make a stick and paper airplane from scratch. It actually flew, with the help of a rubber band motor. But one of my favorite plastic model kits was an MG-TD sports car. You may remember this car from your youth (if you are old, like me) or from old movies, or maybe from a car show. It was a little, English two-seater with long sweeping front fenders and a vertical grille. The windshield (well, windscreen, if you are Brit...
Read more

Don' be that guy!

Remember the Mighty Casey? In Ernest Lawrence Thayer's famous poem "Casey at the Bat," he was the pride of the Mudville baseball team. We join the story in the 9th inning:  The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day: The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play, And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same, A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game. The crowd was in despair. Down two in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, they were beginning to leave the stadium. The next two batters were the bottom of the order and offered little hope, but Flynn hit a single, and Blake a double. Suddenly, there was hope for the Mudville nine, for the top of the order, none other than the mighty Casey, was coming to bat with two men in scoring position. Even a base hit would keep the game alive, and a home run, well that would end it in a glorious, ecstatic victory.  Now Casey, apparently, had embraced the hype about hi...
Read more