Day 36 - Remission is confirmed

     Cristy and I just spoke with the doctors about his MRD results.  There were no traces of leukemia cells found in his bone marrow at this time and they announced he is now in remission.  While this is exciting news we still have a long way to go.  The treatment plan for the next 28 days is for three spinal taps at various times to inject chemo drugs, one vincristine treatment and twice a day mercatopurine taken orally.
     The doctors are preparing him now for his stomach scope and LP extraction.  Evan's WBC counts in general have started to normalize, but they want to check his spinal fluid as well to make sure it too has decreased.  Early next week the doctors will operate on his left lung to remove the fungi lesion.  This was originally scheduled for today, but they decided to push it out until next week when the main team is back on the clock.
     His fevers are also beginning to subside as he only had one early last night and has been several hours since his last one.  I'll provide more updates later this evening after his procedures, but wanted to report a win for a change.

UPDATE
     Evan returned from his stomach scope and spinal tap without any issues.  He promptly scarfed down down two slices of pizza and half a taco upon returning.  These late morning/early afternoon procedures are for the birds.

Finally giving the boy some food.

     The bad news?  We're continuing our current course of treatment until the biopsies come back on Monday, although even then things might not change.  The good news?  At least now we know what's causing his stomach problems.  He has several sores in his stomach causing constant discomfort.  The compromised immune system combined with steroids is likely the cause, however the medical staff wouldn't say for sure if that was the root cause.  Even though his pain is likely to remain for the short term I'm pleased that we at least know where his pain is originating.

This is 1 of 2 photos showing the sores.

     I also spoke with the surgeon a bit ago about Evan's lesion removal from his lung on Monday.  The plan is to start the surgery at 7:30 a.m.  He'll be under for 1 - 3 hours depending on how difficult it is to remove.  Upon waking up he'll need to stay in the ICU for 48 - 72 hours to ensure his lung is sealed and doesn't collapse due to a leak.  They'll enter in just under his left breast and try to keep the incision as small as possible.  He will also have a tube running from his chest afterwards to help remove excess air and help expedite healing.

     The doctors were weighing other options, but with the next round of chemo set to begin they didn't feel comfortable compromising his immune system again with a pocket of puss sitting in his blood stream.  While this is the more painful approach in the short term it will allow for the fastest recovery and keep us on schedule.  I hope it's true about chicks digging scars because by the end of this ordeal he's going to be a chick magnet.

     Tonight's inspirational music comes from my workout playlist as well.  This is from one of my all-time favorite bands, and vastly underrated in my opinion, Zebrahead.  The main chorus goes like this and seems pretty fitting considering the family's emotions lately.

We all fall down but we get back up

We all break down but we build it up

And we won't break but we might bend

We all fall down but we get back up

We all want more never get enough

We will not break but we might bend

See you at the bitter end