All Good Streaks Come to an End

I must admit that I failed miserably at predicting Tyler's blood counts on Wednesday, January 2nd. I predicted a platelet count of 54 (would you say I am optimistic?), when in reality it was a solid 36. Red blood cells dropped to 28.1 from 30.7 on the previous visit.

We finally got to meet with our regular doctor, which was a treat after two weeks of substitute doctors and nurses. We brought up some questions we had about stem cell transplants, including the timing of when Tyler might expect to have one. Much to our surprise, Dr. M said that he actually is against transplants for most cases because the majority of the risk in a transplant is at the front end. Complications during surgery, the possibility of rejecting the transplanted cells, etc. all occur within the first few months if you are getting a transplant.

Our other possible path is to stay with the Sprycel, assuming Tyler continues to respond well to it, for an indefinite period of time. Dr. M suggests that we do the initial work for the transplant, so that we can move on that quickly if needed. The matching process will probably be the most time consuming part of the preparation, so they would need to determine if Gump is a match for Tyler long before the surgery might actually be needed.

Tyler has a blood test only next week, and then we meet with Dr. M again on January 16th. It's nice to have the freedom from daily doctor visits, although Tyler is still unable to work. Hopefully his blood counts on the 16th will have improved enough for him to go back to work. He's close on being able to work now, but the doctor is playing it safe since both red blood cells and platelets are still in a low range. Once Tyler gets his platelet count back up to 150, he might get to play soccer again. So now you know what our real goal is... We'll do anything to get back on the field!

I have been starting to read more about nutrition so that we can plan our diet to be supportive of Tyler's therapy. So much of what I have seen in other research supports the idea of a whole foods diet. I guess I might need to start shopping at Whole Foods now! ;) With luck, we will only need small changes to see improvements in our health.

Thanks for the prayers for health in 2008! I'm hoping that he continues to respond well to the Sprycel and that the clinical trials in process go well, so that more and more effective medicines are released soon.

Happy New Year from both of us!

Mandy