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8/5/2011:  6:00 PM

Let me lead by letting you know that Davis is in REMISSION!!!

Now let me fill you in on the day.

What a long day. We had to leave shortly after 5:30 AM to make it there by 8:30 AM for lab work, doc visit, and procedure prep.  Lab work came back pretty good. I was surprised to see that his white blood count, which has been hovering around 1.0 for the last couple of weeks, was up to 2.4. (Reminder: healthy children range between 5.0-10.0.) His hemoglobin had dropped a bit to 9.4, and his platelets were 124.  All OK to withstand his spinal chemo treatment today. His ANC (immune system) came up considerably; it is over 1100! (Reminder: optimal is above 1500)

Davis's bone marrow biopsy and spinal tap were underway at around 11:00 AM, and we were on our way home before 1:00 PM. He cried a lot while waiting for his procedure. No, not because he was in pain, not because he was scared. He was hungry. Needless to say, he ate Jimmy John's as soon as he was awake enough to eat.



yay! not losing weight anymore

While Davis was having his procedures done, we had an opportunity to talk with the staff about the next phase of treatment. If Davis is in remission, he would begin the second phase of treatment called "consolidation".  Consolidation phase is a longer phase (6+ months) that is designed to keep the cancer in remission.  He will receive chemo weekly (at times, four days in a row). There will be times when his counts (ANC and platelets) won't be high enough to receive chemo, so chemo will be postponed until his counts rise to a safe level. Understandably, chemo could last 6 1/2 months or 10 months. It all depends. The consolidation phase is best explained as knock-him-down-and-build-him-back-up phase.

As soon as we pulled in the driveway this evening, we received our much anticipated phone call from Dr. Shapiro. The preliminary results suggest that Davis is in remission!  Praise God! 0-5% cancer blasts present in the bone marrow is considered remission.  Davis was registering between 3-4%. While it was the hope that Davis would be less than 1%, we are still extremely grateful that he is in remission. Davis is considered high risk for relapse because he was treated with a round of steroids before we knew that he had leukemia. (This was back in June when we thought he had mono or some bacterial infection.) The steroids actually sped up the production of cancer cells in his bone marrow. We are awaiting the official lab results, which should come on Monday, but Dr. Shapiro felt very confident that Davis is in remission.



this is how his port is accessed. the
needle, which looks like a nail, is
visible in the clear plastic tubing



Davis will have a week off from chemo. On the 12th, we go back to start the consolidation phase.  And boy, it starts with a bang. He will receive quite a bit of chemo next Friday, and starting on Friday, he will have chemo every day for four days. This one chemo medication is notorious for making kiddos pretty sick. We are praying that Davis tolerates it better than most; he has done surprisingly well thus far. We are looking forward to our week of freedom and fun. Pending how Davis feels, we are hoping to salvage some of the summer and get out while his counts hold.

I can't express how thankful we are for all of your encouragement and prayers. Three weeks ago when we were told that Davis's bone marrow was producing 80-90% cancer cells, it seemed far from reality that he would be in remission in 29 days. But God is good to us and you have been good to us, and here we are.  I know that we are where we are - not by luck - but by the prayers and positive thoughts that have been offered on our behalf. It is humbling to know that we are so dependent on God's mercy and your kindness, and we are aware there may never be a proper way to repay all of it sent our way. The best we can do is to remember to pay it forward.

love this picture. love him more.

This journey has just begun. Although we have taken one gigantic step in the right direction, there are many obstacles ahead. As we continue to pray against short term and long term side effects, we will focus our prayers on staying in remission . . . forever. We will be praying against this "high risk" label and relapse. My last plea offered up before I close my eyes every night is part of the prayer that I pray over Davis when I tuck him in at night. It is not complicated; it is not poetic. "God, please heal my son. Please cure him." I know He will. Thank you for your continued support.

We will keep you posted.