Bledsoe Battle

So.. We've had some blog confusion on our end. Tyler wrote up a great (I assume) post about getting the test results, but it didn't get posted for all to read. Sorry for making you wait. Thankfully, my sister called and reminded me that I was letting you all down. I guess Tyler and I need to come up with something more interesting to talk about, so we aren't always waiting for doctor's visits or test results. Perhaps we could post our fantasy results each week! ;)

Anyways, the doctor's visit for the bone marrow results went okay. Dr M said that Ty is down to only 1 in 50 cells with the Philadelphia chromosome, which is a great improvement.

On the down side, the doctor was disappointed in those results. He was hoping we would be at complete remission by this point. He gave Tyler the option of increasing his daily dosage to 800mg of Gleevec or continuing at 600mg and retresting again in a few months. The standard dosage is actually 400mg, but our doctor said that patients who are able to tolerate a 600mg dosage achieve better long term results, so he started Tyler off there. Ty has handled that dosage with only a few symptoms, so it was a good decision.

There is concern, however, that if we increase is dosage to 800mg, that he might experience more side effects from the drug. Tyler opted to stay with the 600mg dosage, to make sure that he is able to continue working full time unhampered by side effects.

I think we were both a little unsettled after the doctor's appointment, but pleased that Tyler seems to be making progress still. Our next visit is right before our vacation to Mexico, so hopefully he gets good results from that. I'll be surprised if the doctor continues to see us every month. The recent blood tests have been pretty steady, so unless they are using the more sensitive tests each month, there wouldn't be too much to test on.

Thanks for your continued support, the prayers, and the friendship!

Mandy