Postponing Texas

I had my Day 28 bone marrow biopsy this week, and we finally have the first results.

I had really hoped this would be the post where I told everyone that the first round of chemotherapy did exactly what we needed it to do and that I was packing my bags for Texas. But, there’s been a change of plans.

The good news is that the first 28-day induction did a tremendous amount of work. We started this journey with a bone marrow full of leukemia (80% blast cells), and the treatment killed the vast majority of those cells (down to 11% blast cells). But that’s not all of them and the goal was <5%.

That means there are still abnormal leukemia cells detectable in my bone marrow, and with the type of AML I have, “almost” isn’t good enough. We want to go into transplant with the deepest remission we can possibly achieve.

So Texas will have to wait a little longer.

Instead of heading to MD Anderson right away, I’ll be staying here in Richmond for another 28-day treatment protocol at VCU, with my amazing doctor, Dr. Keri Maher, to try to kill those cells that remain. After that, we’ll repeat the bone marrow testing and, hopefully, finally make our way to Houston for the stem cell transplant.

I won’t pretend I wasn’t disappointed. I had mentally prepared myself to move on to the next phase. My bags were practically packed, plans were being made, and Texas felt like the next move.

But one thing I’m learning through all of this is that cancer does not care about my calendar.

So we adjust.

Another 28 days. Another round. Another chance to get this disease down as far as we possibly can before transplant.

The destination hasn’t changed. The road to get there just got a little longer.