Waiting to Hear

Sorry to be so long this weekend in getting out an update from Friday.  Friday was "Day 29" of Daniel's chemotherapy and the end of Phase 1 called "Induction".  The goal of Induction is to achieve full "remission" which is defined as not seeing any cancerous blood cells in the hospital's microscopic inspection of the bone marrow.  Amazingly - very likely miraculously - Daniel was found to be in full remission at day 14.  His blood counts (red, white, and platelet cells) have begun to climb and show signs of healthy bone marrow making a comeback and as of this past Friday, his white cells (partly responsible for your immune system) were back above the magic level of 1000 meaning Daniel doesn't have to be quite so careful about visitors, being in public, and eating unsterile foods.  So it was his beloved Taco Bell for dinner on Friday night (does anyone remember the movie "Demolition Man"? ha ha

Other than the standard precautionary spinal injection of chemo drugs (which they always due as a preventive measure), there was no chemotherapy given on Friday, but they performed a spinal tap and bone marrow test.  The spinal tap draws spinal fluid to ensure that no cancerous cells have gotten into the spinal sheath (where it becomes very hard to treat.  The bone marrow aspiration and biopsy draws a sample of both the marrow itself and the bone to look for cancer cells and see how things are progressing.  Because leukemia is a cancer of the bone marrow, it is the only way to see accurately what's going on.  The initial results that can be obtained directly by the hospital lab were again positive and showed no cancer cells.  The more comprehensive test must be sent out to a highly specialized genetics lab and takes a few days to get results.

The docs however were confident enough from his history and current numbers to go ahead and give us the details of the next phase (called "Consolidation") that they plan to pursue assuming the test results come back as good as expected.  I have mixed emotions about making assumptions everything will be good.  Perhaps it's my cynicism, perhaps it's experience, perhaps it's my discomfort with making assumptions about what God is up to - but I dislike "counting my chickens before they hatch" as it were. So I remain, and request family and friends to remain - in interceding prayer for Daniel.  The last time I "relaxed" after hearing good news, I got one of the worst shocks of my life when Daniel was moved to the Very High Risk category and we were told he had only a 60% chance of living.  That turned out to be a false alarm, but I've tried hard to learn my lesson about making any assumptions or relaxing my constant petitioning before the Lord throughout this ordeal.  After all, I'm quite confident that He has allowed all this to come into our lives in order that we may learn and grow and draw closer to Him through the midst of this fiery furnace.  After all, those who looked in through the door and saw the 4th Man walking around there with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Daniel 3) were undoubtedly amazed and learned something.  But no one knew more about that 4th Man than the 3 who were preserved through the flames with Him, and had their bonds burned from their hands and feet, and who walked side-by-side with Him through the very valley of death as a reward for their faith.  But I digress. :-)

The next two months, if all goes as expected by the docs, will consist mainly of continued weekly chemo treatments and all the horrible side-effects that come along with them.  At least we will be (mostly) done with steroids and his appetite is already beginning to return to normal.  We look forward also to getting back on track with trying to find out why he continues to suffer from back pain and fairly intense muscle tension too.  It's still a very long and difficult climb ahead for our little guy.  But my Pilgrim's making great Progress.

















Please continue to pray for the good test results the doctors are expecting and for the faith, perseverance, patience, and endurance Daniel needs to get through all that lies ahead.

- Tim -