We had another appointment with Dr. McGee on Tuesday this week and are pleased to say that Tyler's blood counts are still in the normal range. In fact, the doctor is so pleased with Tyler's progress that we don't have a blood draw or doctor's appointment for a month. While we enjoy all of the wonderful people at our doctor's office, it is nice to be free of the commitment to stop in there every two weeks.

One thing that I found particularly interesting at this visit was Dr. McGee's discussion of the Generation 2 and 3 drugs for CML. While Tyler is responding very well to Gleevec, the drug companies are racing to come out with better and better drugs for this disease. They are currently running clinical trials on the Generation 2 drugs and finding that they work well for folks who were not responsive to Gleevec. As time goes by, we may see patients who have been responsive to Gleevec switching to the newer drugs. While the doctor didn't give us a specific time frame for when he might be making a decision for Tyler to make the switch, he seemed to indicate that it was indeed something we might expect in the next few years. It's hard for me to believe that another drug would be even better for Tyler. He's responded so well to this one and has had so few side effects, that I am hard pressed to imagine a less invasive drug.

On another note, we are thinking about starting a team for Light the Night -- a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. Anyone can participate in the walk or by offering donations. If you don't receive an invitation in the next few weeks and are interested in participating or contributing, please contact either one of us.

I think we'll be participating in the Greenlake walk on September 15th, but Washington has walks organized in Tulalip (Sept 15), Olympia (Oct 6), and Tacoma (Oct 6). If you live in another state and want to walk, we can look up a walk in your area for you to join and still have you on our team! The walks start at 7pm, with registration an hour before that. The course is about 2.5-3 miles on a flat stretch, so you can be at any fitness level and still participate. Keep your eyes out for more information!

If you already know that you want to participate, please feel free to post a comment on the blog. It'll be fun for us to see that someone actually reads this!!

Thanks,

Mandy

Happy Father's Day!

We just wanted to send a big thank you out to the fathers in both of our lives! We have been blessed to be introduced to sports by our fathers and both of us developed a life long love of soccer due to that influence. Each of you (Dave, Scott, John, J.B., Jim, Chuck, and Andy) have helped to shape us into the people we are now -- and we think you did a darn good job!
Thank you!

Hello everyone, it is now June and things keep getting better every day! Earlier this week I had an ultrasound on my spleen to see if it had returned to its normal size. I received a call from the doctor yesterday and was told it had indeed returned to normal. This means that I can be active without worrying about damaging/puncturing my spleen.

I was able to join the soccer team last night for the first time since last november for outdoor soccer. It was such a great feeling to be out on the field again! I was able to play most of the game without getting too tired, but had to take several water breaks.

Work is also much better for me as my energy has increased steadily, and I feel I am getting close to 100% again. The chemotherapy medicine they are treating me with has been so amazing for me. Not only is it searching out and destroying the mechanism in my body that creates the "bad" white blood cells, but I feel better than I have in probably two years! I have minimal side effects with this medicine also, which is lucky because many people do have problems with side effects including nausea.

I have so many things to be thankful for, including all of you that have prayed for me, thought about me, and helped me get through this initial part of my battle with this cancer. I am so thankful to have Mandy in my life as she keeps me grounded and always looking forward to each day!

Take care,

Tyler