May 15, 2007

Today is Day+103. It’s not been that long since my last update but several of you wanted to hear the results of the bone marrow biopsy when I got them. I saw Dr. Mauro today and the good news is that all but one of the test results were back.

We wanted to see at least 95% donor cells in the marrow and less than 5% of mine. There were 0 of my cells found in the marrow. My transplant is 100%, which is a great thing. I guess I’m no longer the old Art. However, I don’t know what the new Art is so we’ll have to discover me together.

My marrow is hypo cellular, which means the marrow has a lower than normal number of cells in it. That is normal for this time in the process. As the donor cells multiply they will fill it up. The marrow is hypo cellular because leukemia had occupied a lot of the marrow and the leukemia isn’t taking up that space anymore. There were NO signs of leukemia activity and my marrow is clear of it.

The one test that wasn’t back is called a PCR test. The PCR test is the most sensitive test to detect any residual leukemia markers in the blood. For some reason the PCR test was not done by the lab. They drew another blood sample today and Dr. Mauro has ordered the test again. It will be a couple of weeks before those results are back. Dr. Mauro is very sure that there will be no surprises with the PCR test because of the other results we did get. It appears I’ll be around for at least a while longer.

I got to lower my prednisone dose again today. YAHOO. The decrease is small, but I’ll take anything.