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!