Thursday, February 12, 2009

We received further information from Mayo Clinic in regards to the Bone Marrow Aspiration that was performed last week.

Although the majority of the report is written in " Doctor Talk" and a normal person cannot understand, the final diagnosis is written in English.

The final diagnosis states - " Marrow changes consistent with treatment. No residual chronic lymphocytic leukemia identified".

So for now, the Leukemia is gone from the body. however as explained before, it will return, the question that still remains is when.

Next steps for us will be to return to normal living, working, playing, etc. Dr. Solberg said this should not occur until mid March because the body needs time to heal from the trauma it has been through. On April 13th, we'll be back at Mayo for more testing and to start exploring and understanding what lies ahead and the estimated timeline.

Thank you all for your support and prayers.

Love,

Carol & Fred

Friday, February 6, 2009 (part 2)

We're reaching for the "top shelf" tonight and celebrating! Since there is no cure for CLL, Dr. Solberg said he could not call it a "complete remission", but for now the bad leukemia cells are completely killed off and out of the body.

The immune system remains suppressed and it will be another 4 to 5 weeks before a return to normal activities.

In two months, it will be a return trip to Mayo and at that time we will outline the future course of treatment. At some point a Bone Marrow transplant is in the future, but Dr. Solberg thought it was best to hold off those decisions until April.

So for now, we're celebrating! Since I'm limited to only a couple of "adult beverages", I'm sure there will be a few of you out there that will hoist a few this weekend and join us in the celebration.

Thank you for your support and prayers,
Fred and Carol

Friday, February 6, 2009

Fred had his CT scan this morning and we are now waiting to see Dr. Solberg this afternoon. Fred has a cold and they put him on an antibiotic so I hope it kicks in soon. He is very tired. Keep good thoughts for this afternoon.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Fred had his blood work and bone marrow biopsy this morning. He was a nervous wreck about the biopsy, but luckily they gave him some Adavant to take 1 hour prior to the procedure. I ended up giving him another one about 15 minutes before the procedure cause he was still a nervous wreck. He wasn't feeling too much pain (if you know what I mean) by the time he had the biopsy. Needless to say he has been sleeping soundly since.

I went to pick up a prescription for him and to get him some lunch that he wanted, but I don't think he even knew I was gone and he doesn't even know that I am back already. I am hoping he sleeps most of the day and the pain from the procedure isn't too bad.

We know they have to send the bone marrow biopsy results to Rochester, but they do some of their own preliminary tests also from the bone marrow, so after his CT scan tomorrow we are hoping that Dr. Solberg will have some good news for us tomorrow afternoon.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

We just arrived in Jacksonville. Sorry I haven't posted lately but Fred has been doing well. He still gets tired easily, but otherwise has been doing great.

Tomorrow Fred has the dreaded bone marrow biopsy and blood work done. On Friday he has a CT scan and then we see Dr. Solberg and hopefully find out where we go from here.