Day 29 - The end of "Induction"

It is hard to believe, but we have made it through the first month of Catherine's treatment, inarguably, the most difficult and intensive part of her road to recovery. This morning, Theresa, Catherine and I made the trip up to Guilford for quick blood work followed by a visit to Yale New Haven Hospital for another lumbar puncture, bone marrow aspiration and chemo treatment delivered into Catherine's spinal fluid.

Although Catherine had every reason to be grouchy this morning (she could not eat due to her procedure today) she actually smiled for the doctors and the nurses. Her blood work this morning was solid. Her ANC jumped to 3,692 up from 470 just 5 days ago, and her platelet count is now 310,000. Just four weeks ago, Catherine's body was covered in bruises and had virtually no immunity. Upon hearing the results this morning, it felt like we could finally see the light at the end of a tunnel.

Hopefully a harbinger of today's bone marrow test, Catherine's blood had signs of NRBCs (nucleated red blood cells). NRBCs are immature red blood cells produced in the marrow. When her marrow was packed with leukemia back in February, NRBCs were pretty much non-existent. We won't likely get the complete results from the bone marrow until Monday, but her medical team is encouraged by today's blood work which suggests her bone marrow should be in decent shape.

As for the next step, Catherine will receive her last dose of Decadron tonight for some time. The Decadron is the oral steroid that has caused the insatiable appetite and roughly 4 pound weight gain (which is pretty much all in her face and her belly). Hopefully over the next several weeks, her appetite will return to normal and her "puffiness" should be less pronounced. On Tuesday, we meet with the team to discuss the next phase in Catherine's treatment protocol. I don't have more details yet given each patient is treated somewhat differently based on a variety of factors including age, blood results, response to prior treatments and type of leukemia.

Hopefully we will get the bone marrow results sooner rather than later so I can post everyone, but at the latest expect some information by Monday.