Neutral News is Good News!

I talked to our oncologist today, who gave us the preliminary results for the karyotyping of Andrew's chromosomes. This basically tells us a decent chunk of Andrew's prognosis--whether or not they'll continue with chemotherapy or go straight to a bone marrow transplant. Andrew appears to have a t(7;7) translocation, which is neutral when it comes to prognoses. But hey, to us, neutral is good because neutral isn't bad!

They have yet to get results for a FLT3 mutation that also carries with it a pretty poor prognosis. Of the dozens of people that they treated for AML (or that they know about/study, I don't remember what he said), only one so far has had the FLT3 mutation, and she's recovering from a bone marrow transplant right now. So, moral of the story is that it's unlikely that Andrew has this mutation, but we still don't know.

Andrew's pretty happy these days. He's definitely more clingy and a little hoarse (with a diaper rash from el diablo), but overall, he's been doing well. His hematocrit is at a 22, which is low and on the borderline for what doctors will want to do for a transfusion. Receiving blood products is always a risky business, so they'll only do it if he keeps dropping. Doesn't seem to phase him at all, as he still refuses to nap!

I continue to be inspired. Every day, I meet someone with a different story, a different perspective, a different attitude. I think facing a life-threatening illness truly changes you, and it's amazing how social barriers just topple as you instinctively want to connect with people. I just met a sweet couple who have been here only a few days and oh how I hope that their little boy has good chromosomes and responds fantastically well to chemo!!! My old labmates also pooled together to help us out, and I am truly just overcome with gratitude.