News still good!

Steve went for a checkup on Wednesday at the Dana Farber Cancer Center. Except for some anemia, his blood counts are normal, and more importantly, there are no abnormal white blood cells. He's feeling pretty perky right now and enjoying being home. Mia came home yesterday and Emily tomorrow. He's been looking forward to having them home. Me too -- we need some entertainment around the house.
The bone marrow biopsy results won't be complete until next week, but all the signs are good  that Steve is in remission.
However, experience with this disease has shown that there are undetectable cancer cells in the bone marrow, necessitating the next phase of treatment, which they call the consolidation phase. On January 2nd,  Steve will be readmitted to the hospital for six days of IV chemotherapy treatment, which he will receive every other day.  Then he goes home for three weeks, and starts a daily dose of another chemotherapy pill which is part of a clinical trial. At the end of the three weeks, the cycle will begin again. This cycle will be done for four months.
At the end of the four months, he will be done with most of the treatment and will just continue with the daily dose of the chemotherapy pill for a year. By this time next year, he will be cancer free and may never have to face another IV bag of chemotherapy!

Steve gets some good medicine for a change

After receiving lots of bone marrow-busting drugs, Steve finally gets some bone marrow-building medicine in the form of a t-bone steak.

The steak is from a beef critter raised at Don Eskelund and Heidi Jacobs’ farm in Winslow. This hunk of delicious red meat will surely boost Steve’s red blood cell production, and he likes it too. I could see him pink-up as he ate it.

He’s getting stronger and more like himself –  especially when it comes to food. Not only did he cook this fabulous lunch, but he’s been talking about recipes quite a lot. Seems he’s making up for lost eating time.

And another thing he’s happy about, he has this whole week off – the trip to Boston for the bone marrow biopsy is rescheduled for next week. Bone marrow biopsies two weeks in a row would be a bit much. 

Home at last . . .

We finally got to the Belgrade homestead at 5:30 pm. Emily was here with food in the fridge and food on the table.
I think Steve ate more in one meal tonight than he has eaten in an entire day during the past month. Surely being home is already good for him. He is weak and fatigues easily but I can see that soon he will regain his strength.
We are giddy. After a month cooped up without anything to look at but the walls in his hospital room, fresh air and trees are almost a new sensation for Steve. I never realized how blissful a cold but damp December day can be!

Good News!

The bone marrow biopsy results are excellent -- no cancer cells remain. Steve may be able to go home tomorrow. His blood counts are climbing and his white count is high enough where all the antibiotics have been discontinued.
The only problem remains is the nausea, which the doctors want to be sure is under control before Steve leaves.
This is certainly the best news we've had since he was admitted four weeks today for this nightmare called leukemia.
Our moods have lifted and we have set our sites on being in Belgrade this weekend.
There is a lot more to come in terms of monitoring and treatment, including a return trip to the Dana Farber on Wednesday for another bone marrow biopsy. Then they will prescribe when Steve will have to return to the Brigham and Women's Hospital for more chemotherapy.

A strange birthday

Steve says thanks for all the wonderful birthday greetings he received today. Unfortunately he didn't feel well for most of the day, still plagued by stomachaches today.
I made his favorite chocolate zucchini cake and the staff all came in and sang happy birthday. They are all very sweet people. Steve managed to crack a smile.
He had the much anticipated bone marrow biopsy at 6 pm, and some heavy-duty drugs which zonked him right out. But when he awoke, he felt much better and ate dinner, birthday cake, truffles, and a Baldwin apple from Frances Farnum's orchard in Mercer.
Now we have to wait for the results of the bone marrow test which won't be available until early next week. The anticipation is difficult for me. As for Steve, he's pretty good at taking it as it comes.

Eating cookies again

I'm happy to report that today was a pretty good day -- his stomach is not doing somersaults and he's been able to eat again, get up and walk around a bit.