Good News - First Big Hurdle Jumped

Yesterday was full of trepidation, medical drama, helping hands, and a fair amount of anxious tears. Rosina had a bone marrow biopsy to check on the progress of the chemotherapy and the results today are that no leukemia cells, or "blasts" were seen. She is "clear". This eyeballing is followed up by a more rigorous test, but it's a very good sign. It means that the first round has been sucessful. In taking her white blood count down to nothing, she has gotten rid of the bad cells. Now it's another two weeks of recovery in the hospital to get the white blood cell count back up.
Generally in this situation you just go one day at a time, but sometimes the big picture comes crashing in, and it has a tendency to be the negative big picture, and Rosina was feeling it yesterday morning. Not so much the impending procedure of having a bone marrow biopsy, which she described as like having dental work done - to your back - but that the chemo was not doing what it was supposed to. It did. Nasty stuff, but it did. Huge hollers to Amy, Stephanie, and LeVar for being there and providing support. If you need freedom from being enslaved to something, it can't hurt to have Kunta Kinte around.

Unfortunately, this does not mean that you do not have Leukemia and this is not considered "remission". Her blood count has to return to normal (the aforementioned two weeks), and then she has another bone marrow biopsy (that will be number four), and if that is clear, she would be considered in remission. But still, this is not the end of Leukemia. It is tenacious and literally lives inside your bones. After achieving remission, she'll come home for a bit and we'll go out to City of Hope to see Dr. Forman and map out the next steps, which include a bone marrow transplant. Apparently, you can't just change the oil, you have to replace the engine. In any case, we'll take today's victory and the forward motion.
A small food update, Many people have brought food by and Rosina has discovered exactly how to order from the hospital menu - soup and a baked potato. Cedars, by the way, does have a fancier in-house menu. It costs $140 a day. The real selling point turns out to be the regular menu.
Again, thanks so much to everyone contacting us. Rosina is reading the comments here on the blog and the emails she's receiving.
Lastly, here's a view from Rosina's bed; what she's been looking at for the last two weeks. I believe if you click on it, you get a bigger version. xo ph



PS Someday we'll translate all those comments posted in Portuguese for the gringos!