A number of folks have asked about the status of my condition and what comes next. I welcome any corrections from my medically smarty friends but here is how we understand the situation.

The intent of the seven days of chemo was to ‘reset’ my immune system. In a “burn the field” approach it basically kills off all the good and bad blood cells that my bone marrow was generating and gives it a chance to start over.

As the latent effect of the chemo continues to work on my system, my body is ‘rebooting’ and my medical team is constantly monitoring my blood levels and vitals. I get blood transfusions as I need them. I have no restrictions on healthy visitors but the main risk now is not the Leukemia but infection.

In the next week, my body should start to ‘restore’ itself, hopefully producing only healthy blood cells. They will take another bone marrow sample to test this. I will be in the hospital for awhile yet. I typically have enough strength to slowly walk 1/4 mile 3-4 times a day.

Because there are evidently only a dozen or so known cases in the world of my particular strain of Leukemia, I will go to the U Of I research hospital for followup in January. I think more information about prognosis and treatment might possibly be made known then. Likely, there will be another 3-4 months of consolidation chemo (5 days each month).

Reset-Reboot-Restore. In the days before my diagnosis God spoke to Marcia and me about some other things in our lives He wanted to reset, reboot, and restore…for His pleasure and for ours. It is a wonderful experience to stop the merry-go-round and pause for internal reflection and consider what changes God desires to bring you greater joy.