The Long Awaited Test Results......

 Traffic! It's difficult to get used to Seattle traffic! On one day of appointments, we got stuck in Seattle traffic for 2 1/2 hours!!!!!!!! You feel as though you will never get out! You move maybe a foot or two every five (or more) minutes with nowhere to go to get out of it. On a good day, when traffic is at a low, it only takes about 15 minutes to get from SCCA to home.....but we made the huge error to head over to Costco for some much needed fuel plus a few grocery items which, in essence, would only tack on another 15 minutes...... with no major traffic...ahem. We felt terrible as Anna had promised Zeke a "date" to the little coffee shop down the road. Well, that shop was closed so I took them to Starbucks for their special treat. They enjoyed their time together even with mommy!

 Anna's tests were many. She had fourteen appointments in one week! Here is the update on Anna's health.....

Anna's bone density scan was amazingly normal! This is very abnormal for someone who has undergone a bone marrow transplant. The doctors said they all jumped for joy at seeing these results. Her lung capacity is actually a tad bit better than before her transplant. I felt sorry for her undergoing the respiratory tests! Wow! As I watched, I would suddenly realize I was taking the breaths or exhaling as she was doing!

The bone marrow aspiration went well, leaving Anna very sore for several days. The results of the test reveals that Anna has 0.01% cancer left. Last time she was at 0.03%. This means that out of 1000 cells, there was 1 cell that had the BCR-ABL (or Philedelphia) chromosome. At 0.03, there were 3 cells in a thousand. The doctors are still very optimistic as there has been a decline. There is no need of worry at this point. It is at the six month aspirate that will determine whether Anna is at risk of getting CML again and if further treatment is needed.

We were given a call from the nurse on the green team at SCCA to tell us that Anna can stop taking three medicines! Yay! Also, we have gotten to decrease the insulin intake as Anna's blood sugar numbers have gotten a lot better. She is now completely off of the prednisone which can cause a drug induced diabetes as well as possibly cause type 1 diabetes that stays with her forever. We are thinking it has just been the drug induced kind.

 This year, the family headed off to family camp, without Anna, Selah, and me! Anna still can't be in large crowds or in the midst of grass, dirt, and trees, or eat food that is exposed to others, we also had several appointments at SCCA and the podiatrist's to go to. Please pray for Anna's toes to lose the infection that seems to want to stick around from her ingrown toenails. They can only do so much for them until it's been a year from transplant, then they can do more invasive procedures.

I think Selah enjoyed getting to go with us to the appointments for once. She definitely had fun being the center of attention for the time, though she thoroughly missed the family. The first morning, she woke up with, "Where's my Daddy?!" The days to follow, she would ask where her (insert sibling's name) is.

We missed getting to go to our annual family camp. We missed the family. But we enjoyed time together. We didn't do anything spectacular, we just hung out. We kept the house clean, went to appointments, and rested when we could. We even had an interesting adventure of sorts.....but I'll post on that later!

Selah watching for daddy and the kids