Good News/Bad News/Good Again

What a day of ups and downs today has been. The morning started off well enough. Josh and I slept late and started our day slowly. By 10 am I had my first update from Amy. Katie had slept fitfully last night, not yet used to the nurses coming in to take vital signs every couple of hours. She was feeling pretty good, but was still not happy to be at the hospital. To make matters worse for her, but not us, the doctors were able to move up Katie's bone marrow extraction to this afternoon. That meant that Katie was not allowed to eat this morning and would not be allowed to have food or drink until 3pm. But at least there was a possibility that we would get some answers sooner than expected. That would be nice.

Just an hour later, I received another phone call from Amy. She had talked with the doctors again and been told that the blood sample that was drawn yesterday looked bad. The sample looked like it contained blasts again. It looked like the cancer might be back. The planned bone marrow extraction would now also include a lumbar puncture to test Katie's spinal fluid. Needless to say, I spent the rest of my day very stressed out. The last thing I wanted to hear was that the cancer had come back.

That was the last update that I had until after the bone marrow extraction was complete. At approximately 4pm, Amy and Katie returned to their room and I was able to get an update.
The extraction had gone off without a hitch and their was a little hopeful news. Apparently the marrow came out very easily and that is supposedly a good sign. It must come out harder when it is full of cancer cells. Additionally, the marrow looked healthy when viewed under a microscope. We wouldn't have any further information until the flow cytometry results came back.

Surprisingly, the flow cytometry results came back within the hour. They weren't expected to be read until Monday so our thanks go out to the doctor who put in the extra time to give us some peace of mind this weekend. The results were negative for any sign of cancer. What a relief that news was. Amy, who had been so solid as wave after wave of bad news rolled in, broke down on the phone as she passed along the good news. The relief in her voice was palpable.

However, now that we know that the cancer hasn't come back we are still left wondering what the real problem is. Whatever it is, it can't be as bad as if the cancer had come back.