Good News

Two bits of good news to share with everyone. First of all, they think Chris just strained his back lifting a little doggie over a fence. That means the pain is musculoskeletal and will get better.

Secondly, his latest blood results show 0% blasts in the blood. This could mean that he is in his first complete remission!!! They will do a bone marrow biopsy to confirm that there aren't any blasts in the marrow as well. So, the next step for someone who doesn't have an HLA-matched stem cell donor is to undergo an autologous (meaning "self") stem cell transplant. I will include links to two sites that do a pretty good job of explaining the details. The protocol at MD Anderson may not be exactly the same as at these two sites, but they give pretty good general details. We will let you know when we learn more.

Christy

http://patient.cancerconsultants.com/stemcell_treatment.aspx?id=947

http://www.cancercenter.com/stem-cell/stem-cell-autologous.cfm