WILL THE BUMPS IN THE ROAD NEVER END?

December 1st is cancelled for Terry's transplant. She came down with a severe sinus infection and has been treated with antibiotics and a few other medications. She can't have the transplant with an active infectious process.
We saw the Transplant Oncologist earlier this week and now the tenative date is 12/15/09. That will mean Christmas in the hospital.
On a positive note, our daughter Karen and her housemate Annisa visitied for Thanksgiving. Although the visit was brief it was wonderful. They bring a lot of sunshine to us. We are thankful for every day, for all of our freinds, relatives and well-wishers.

AWESOME NEWS

We arrived home last night from our visit to Rome. There was a phone message from the Nurse Coordinator at the University of Michigan. The message was short but very sweet. "It's a go! Doctors Mineishi and Bloom conferred and Terry will have her stem cell transplant as scheduled on December 1st". Now we enter the next phase of her road to subduing the cancer.

A few people have asked some questions of this disease and the ensuing treatment. FYI, the stem cell transplant has nothing to do with embryonic stem cells. Terry will be receiving her own cells which were harvested from her bone marrow a few months ago. They have been "on ice" and will be defrosted just before the transplant procedure.

When Terry goes into the hospital for the transplant, we are told the procedure is rather anti-climatic. The cells are thawed and she will be given them by I.V. However due to a high dose of chemo given the day preceding the transplant Terry will have no ability to fight infections and will have to be hospitalized for a least two weeks and in a controlled form of isolation. She will be able to have visitors but whenever she wants to leave her room she will wear a mask. Terry will not be able to have fresh flowers or plants as they carry molds, fungi and other things that could do her harm.

Our prayers have been answered for this news. We know that a lot of people have been praying for her too. Please don't stop praying for her yet as she now needs a successful transplant. Thank you all for what you have done. God bless you all.

STILL ON THE FENCE

Terry had her biopsy last Wednesday and we were hoping to have the results by Monday-Tuesday at the latest. Both days came and went. Finally at 4 PM on Wednesday Dr. Bloom (Terry's Primary Oncologist) called with the results. Good news and we aren't sure news. The good news is that Terry's cancer cells in her marrow are down to 2 %. The goal was to get to less than 5%. However, the pathologist who examined Terry's bone marrow slide saw something that bothered her and she decided to do a few extra tests. That is why the results were late, as we were waiting for these added tests. The new tests show small islands of cancer within the core of the biopsy that are up to 15% cancer cells. Dr. Bloom wants to confer with the Transplant Oncologist (Dr Mineishi) to assess the viability of the impending stem cell transplant. To make a long story short we don't know and won't know if Terry will have her stem cells transplanted on December 1st or not. We are still up in the air and will probably know more early next week.

In the meantime Terry has a 10 day hiatus from chemotherapy so we are in Rome, New York visiting her family. Terry's Mom is in a nursing home, so this visit has been a jolt of good for both of them.

On a more macabre note, we visited our gravestone which was put in place a few weeks ago. I wanted to lie down and have our picture taken, but saner heads prevailed. Terry said "no".

I will update this blog next week, hopefully with good news. Please keep the prayers and good thoughts soming.