Game on...

So it's happening. Ed was admitted to the hospital today and has begun chemo.

We met with the Leukemia specialist last Thursday and he confirmed that they would like to begin treatment fairly quickly. It seems we have some advantage in that the Leukemia is not yet in Ed's peripheral blood. He gave us the choice: wait until the final week of Radiation therapy completed and get admitted June 21, or get admitted June 14 and either have the remaining Radiation administered in hospital, or cancelled altogether. We chose to get moving on this and so here we are.

The protocol for treatment is fairly unchanged in the past 8 years. The one thing they will do differently this time is to start Ed on a higher dose of chemo given that his disease did not respond to the initial lower dose last time around. This is essentially the level of chemo he received with the second round last time. The doctors are optimistic that this chemo will get him into remission. So Ed will receive 12 doses of chemo over 6 days (one dose every 12 hours). The other change this time is that if he remains fever free, Ed will be discharged to come home after all the chemo has been administered. This is HUGE news for us. You may recall last time that Ed initially spent over 40 days in hospital. Apparently the medical industry is finally facing the fact that more people get sicker IN the hospital than out! So pray he remains fever free so that we can get him home next week! Once home he'll return to the clinic every other day or so to have his blood counts monitored. It's expected his immune will return within a couple weeks; then they will do another bone marrow biopsy to check for remission.

Once he achieves remission we are told that Ed's only option for long-term survival is another Stem Cell transplant. I think we were both pretty disappointed in this news, but are dealing with the reality that it is what it is. Since the hypothesis is that Ed's donor immune system failed, he will not be able to go back to that well; we'll be searching the National and International marrow banks for a match. More news on that to come in the next few weeks.

Some friends have asked if we can hold a bone marrow donor drive in the hopes of finding a match for Ed. This is not really a viable proposition in that his odds of finding a donor via the registry are actually better via the National and International registries. We would just ask again that if you want to do something concrete to help, please consider not only donating blood (Ed will need many transfusions of red blood cells and platelets during this journey) but also consider registering to be a stem cell donor. The process to register is simply (drop of blood is taken) and the process to donate is not nearly the painful proposition it once was years ago. Most importantly you could save the life of someone just like Ed - a young man with a family! Please visit the following site for more information on what it takes to become a donor: http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/index.html?src=tabjoin

For now, we're back to taking this thing one day at a time and focusing on keeping Ed comfortable (and as far away from hospital food as possible!). We are staying focused on the knowledge that this chemo WILL get him into remission AND solve his progressing painful neuropathy issues; and most important that he WILL be back home with us next week. In short, tomorrow WILL be a better day!

In the meantime, please feel free to email either of us (ethorp@gmail.com or kelly.thorp@gmail.com ) or leave a message on this Blog. I expect Ed to be adding his two cents here soon as well, so please check back for updates! As for hospital visitors this week, we ask that you email me in advance so that we can ensure Ed is up for company.

Lastly we appreciate your continued prayers and support. We cannot do this alone!

With love and highest hopes - The Thorps!