Day +135: Sending Sarah Home

Doctor Chaffee (Sarah's oncologist) is talking about sending Sarah (and the rest of us) home on Monday perhaps Tuesday. This is due to her excellent response to the treatment she has been given over the last five days.

Sarah's white blood cell count (WBC) has dropped over the last 2 days and as of about 2 hours ago it was at 1,100. Her peak WBC during this relapse has been 140,000. To put that into perspective a normal WBC is between 5,500-15,500 per microliter. The lower than normal WBC is wonderful news and indicates the cancer cells are dying very effectively. She has had a major hematologic response meaning the chemotherapy/Dasatinib treatment is working relative to her blood, but we do not know about her bone marrow yet.

Sarah's will be have a bone marrow aspiration on about Dec. 16 or 17 to check her bone marrow cancer level (cytogenetic response). We are praying that Sarah's bone marrow will be clean and free of leukemia. Once her bone marrow is defined as free of leukemia cells then she will tested for molecular remission. Ultimately we want her to reach and stay in molecular remission.

Sarah had jaw and leg pain yesterday from the Vincristine chemo she is on. She only had leg pain today, but apparently it hurts pretty bad. You have to carry her places like the bathroom or she cries from the pain. So, I was very impressed by her this afternoon when she said she wanted to go for a walk. I put on her shoes and pushed her pump cart as she walked (or really hobbled slowly) beside me to the playroom. I do not know what she was thinking, but she must have known that it would hurt pretty bad to take that walk. I think she just wants to be normal again.

Basically, Sarah is headed in the right direction and her therapy appears to be working. We thank God for what he has done and is doing. Susan and I are thankful that God directed us to choose this course of treatment. We will continue to pray for his guidance and that he will direct not only us, but Sarah's doctors too.

-Ben
Psalm 31:19-24