Consolidation 2 Cycle 6

Drugged up immediately after a bone marrow biopsy and preparing for a spinal tap in 20 minutes.

Erika was three weeks behind schedule to get a bone marrow biopsy done because her blood count would not bounce back up. Yesterday, she was scheduled to get one done regardless of how high her blood count was. Although, for the spinal tap her counts do need to be high enough. 

As usual, the biopsy was painful yesterday. Whenever there is a shift in pressure in the bone, pain is the signal the brain chooses for the change. They had to take an extra vial of bone marrow for the clinical trial, which equates to extra pain. On top of that, they needed to get a bone fragment specimen as well for bone structural examination. After the biopsy, her blood count results came in and it was high enough to proceed with the spinal tap.

Twenty minutes of recovery was all she had after the bone marrow biopsy was completed before she was taken down for the spinal tap. This procedure consist of extracting a small fluid from the spinal cord for examination, and then inject a small dose of chemo into the spine. This was painful for Erika as well, but not as painful as the one she received back when she was in the Central Nervous System phase. 

Immediately after the spinal tap she was sent back up to receive her next cycle of chemo therapy. This time around her treatment cycle did not include two other chemo for they were causing major side effects. As she recovers and show sign of improvement, then will doctors include the rest of the chemo medicine back into the treatment.

Today, Erika is recovering from all the beating yesterday and has been feeling very poopy. Yet, about an hour ago, we were given some good news. The hospital called and told us that the result from the bone marrow showed that Erika is still in remission. WOOO HOOO!!! Erika's battle with cancer is looking promising.

For those who aren't aware, Erika and I will be doing a walk on Saturday, October 12th to help raise funds to fight this cancer and stop it completely sponsored by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. These funds not only helps with those with Leukemia, but all those with cancer in general since everything begins at the cellular level. Please help join her team in this walk by clicking here (please scroll down to the bottom and click the red JOIN button.) If you are not in Utah, no worries, you can still help by donating to the cause.

Thank you all for your support.