Remission Test Results

After checking the mailbox for the letter from the John Theurer Cancer Center, for the third day in a row, I caved and called to get my remission test result. No news should be good news, but during the wait, there's always a "What if it's bad, and they just haven't called yet?"

In this case, no news is good news. The blood sample was negative for the APL chromosome abnormality. As of May 25th, I will officially have been in remission for one year. I'm already contemplating chocolate cake choices...

At the moment, I feel a mix of relief and trepidation. This afternoon, while lying on the couch, enduring the side effects of the ATRA, I searched the Internet for APL and came across some cases of patients who have relapsed. As if the meds don't have me in enough of a tizzy right now... I want to believe the cure rate for this disease is 100%, and I hate reading any evidence to the contrary. These people are in my prayers. I pray that they will be eating chocolate cake soon too.

Health Update

This morning my doctor rechecked my blood cell counts. They are all still normal, which is a huge relief, considering acute promyelocytic leukemia is a very aggressive disease. She drew blood for a PCR test, for which I may get the result as early as Wednesday.

This past weekend was the hardest my family's had since I came home from the hospital. For the first time in a while, we were worrying about: the the possibility of spending Christmas in the hospital; a bone marrow transplant (and losing any chance of having another child); the inevitable fear of "What if a BMT doesn't work?"; and would Katelyn have any memory of me?

A Thousand Better Ways to Spend a Friday Night

Yesterday evening my left side started hurting. Pain in the same area of my ribs that preceded my diagnosis last spring. When the ache hadn't dissipated by midnight, I called Dr. Sharma, who told me to get it checked out at the E.R. for peace of mind.

The CAT SCAN and blood counts came back normal, and there were no irregular cells when Dr. Sharma looked at a blood sample under the microscope this morning. However, she thinks it's worrisome that I'm having this same rib pain, so she'd like me to come into her office Monday to have blood drawn for a PCR test. The PCR test, which assesses the blood on a molecular level, is much more precise than a CBC (count of blood cells) or examining a slide under the microscope.