Last week, Owen had an appointment to go over the results of his bone marrow biopsy that happened the week prior (day 29). Overall, we received positive news - there was no leukemia found in the marrow! The fine print to that was that there wasn't a lot of 'good stuff' in the marrow either - Our doctors described Owen's situation best with comparing it with a flowerbed. When you have a flowerbed with weeds and you spray on stuff to kill the weeds, the flowers die too. You know the weed killer has done its job when the flowers grow back, but not the weeds. While we didn't have a ton of flowers, there was also no weeds either at the time of the biopsy, and that was the most important part of induction. Owen's platelets and other numbers continue to go up on their own though, and that tells us he has some healthy marrow in his body! There are a few things that have to happen to move to consolidation (phase 2), and Owen passed on most of those things. He had the blood numbers he needed (platelets and hemoglobin) and there was no leukemia in the marrow, but his ANC (immune system) was still a little low. His doctor was confident that it would get to where it needed to be by the end of the week, so we planned to start Thursday. While they were getting Owen's next batch of Chemo ordered and ready, they ran into a snag with our insurance that delayed a med out till Monday..Our doctor shrugged that off and said, "how do you feel about going home to Wyoming for a few days?" ..we of course jumped at that chance!
The last few days have been absolutely wonderful, spending time together as a family in our own home for the first time in over a month! Our apartment in Denver was beginning to feel more like home since its been the only place the 5 of us have been together over the last month. We celebrated Mike's Masters graduation and Mother's day this morning..all together, as it should be!
If I learn nothing else from this experience, I hope I learn to not take for granted how truly blessed I am. I have the best husband/partner and best kids in the world. With all this going on, I live for those moments when all three kids are fighting about some seemingly dumb game like who shot who in Fortnite. I want the fights and the laughter that follows because that comes with being together. I have a family who loves and cheers for us and we have an entire community there to support us along this journey. I hope I remember to love like my kid has leukemia.
Owen and I made the trek back to Denver and we'll head to the hospital bright and early tomorrow morning for day 1 of Consolidation. Consolidation lasts 8 weeks and at the end, Owen will do another bone marrow biopsy to check to make sure there is still no leukemia. He, technically speaking, is in remission. Its 'little r' remission and not 'big R' Remission, but we'll take it! Owen has been so much more himself lately and its been so great for all of us! Here's hoping he continues to handle the chemo well and his body works to keep the leukemia away. He's the bravest, strongest person I know and really truly an inspiration to me and Mike.
