Cancer Results Are Back…

Yesterday at my routine Monday, Wednesday, Friday appointment at the cancer clinic, we met with my PA to discuss side effects and test results.

We had been waiting to hear back about my inversion 16 test result, to see if that number is finally zero again. Last June, we found out that the CBF – core binding factor (PCR) test, that detects the type of AML that I had, was positive. The thing is, I had a good handful of PCR tests prior to that, that were negative, but there must have been one little measly cell in there, that took over and I relapsed. So in all reality, I had yet to be cancer free, outside of being cancer free before I was diagnosed.

We knew that the percentage of donor cells that I currently have is quite high, which is exactly what they want to see. Like I average 99.69%! So we knew that the donor’s cells were engrafting and that Lord-willing, they are doing what they are supposed to be doing. But we really won’t know if it’s deemed a “successful” transplant until at least a year from now.

This PCR test though, was the first since having gone through my bone marrow transplant, so I have been very curious to see what it would come back as. I was preparing myself for the worst, since we haven’t had a clear PCR test since last February, when my last one was. So yesterday, as we were meeting with my PA, I remembered that I still hadn’t heard the results of that test that was done a couple of weeks ago. I quickly asked as I remembered, and she said she wanted to tell me in person. Oh boy…

Well, that number came back at ZERO. ZILCH. NADA. NOTHING. NO active leukemia cells were detected! We are back at ZERO! I started crying when she told me that, as it had been a LONG time since we had been told news like that. It seemed as if every test result since June, only reconfirmed a relapse and things were only getting worse. We are cautiously optimistic since we know that this means there can still be a cell hanging out in there that can eventually take over, but we just pray those donor cells eat that nasty cancer IF there is, and that my new immune system will fight it.

I am once again, CANCER FREE. It makes me cry just typing that because there are so many emotions tied to those words! It has been a LONG year and a half. Which in the grand scheme, isn’t that long. But I think when it was complicated by my heart condition, it just feels like we’ve been dealing with health issues for a very long time.

Now I am not out of the woods yet. This is just one of the PCR tests I will be having. I’ll have another at Day 60, Day 100, 6 months, etc. This is the first of them, but it’s a good one. We know things can change drastically in a heartbeat. Let our life be a testimony to that! But for now, we just praise God for this gift. We praise Him for His healing hand thus far. We pray that this cancer will stay away for good and that if there is even just one cell left, that God would eradicate it from my body. It’s all in His hands and so we leave it in His hands. He has been faithful to us in the past and will be faithful to us in the future too.

But boy are we ready to take a breather from health issues for a little while! My body is still healing from the BMT, but we are grateful for the healing God has already given it. We see weekly progress and we just pray He continues to protect my body from infection and sustains it as we journey along.

Thank you for your prayers as we continue to walk this journey!