The Battle Continues...

We met with the doctors at SCCA today to get the results of Tyler's testing.  Sadly, they tell us that the leukemia is back in play in Tyler's body.  We had seen signs of this in his blood tests, but the ultimate sign that he needs some additional treatment came from his bone marrow.  They'd hoped that the marrow would be clear, and only the blood was showing signs of the disease, but this was not the case.

The doctor strongly recommended that Tyler continue with plans for a Donor Lymphocyte Infusion (DLI).  This means they will draw blood from Tyler's father (who graciously donated marrow about a year ago) and separate out the white blood cells.  Tyler will then get a blood transfusion of just those white blood cells.

The idea behind his treatment is that Scott's white blood cells should recognize that the leukemia is not supposed to be in Tyler's body and attack it.  This is known as the graft versus leukemia effect.  The downside is that Scott's white blood cells will also think TYLER'S body looks foreign and attack him as well, causing a new round of Graft versus Host Disease (GVHD).

The doctor said that the response rate for this treatment has been very good, but of course we are concerned about the possible side effects.  Tyler really wants to get back to work, but is worried that the GVHD will make that difficult.  We'll just have to take that as it comes though, since it is not a guarantee.