There is a bit to update you on, but sometimes it's hard to sit down and write it all out.

First of all, the results from Mom's bone marrow biopsy were inconclusive. The bone marrow was hypo-cellular which means it did not contain enough cells for them to get an accurate reading of how the leukemia has responded to the chemo. One possible reason for this could be that the biopsy was done too early. Mom had another bone marrow biopsy done this morning which hopefully will give us clearer results. It is important that we have results soon as the rest of Mom's treatment hinges on how the cancer has responded to chemo thus far. They need the results to determine what the rest of Mom's chemotherapy will look like.

Secondly, Mom's liver is not holding up against all of the chemotherapy she has been receiving. This is partly to be expected, the doctors have been monitoring her liver very closely to make sure it's keeping up. Your liver filters all the toxins out of your body. Chemotherapy is basically high doses of toxins that have specific actions against the cancer cells with the intention to get rid of them. But while the chemotherapy is in the body the liver gets busy getting it out of the body. The problem is that there is a lot of chemotherapy and only so much liver, eventually the liver is not able to keep up with all the toxins being pumped into the body and it will begin to shut down. Mom's blood work on Monday showed that her liver was not doing good; she did not receive her chemotherapy that day, and the remaining treatments of L-asparaginase were terminated. Since then blood work results have continued to come back with poor liver readings. Today the doctor told Mom to stop all of her other medications. I am not sure that this is normal. Please pray that Mom's liver would begin to recover from this last dose of chemotherapy (since they still need to give her more chemo!)

Also, please continue to pray for Mom's strength. She is very tired and is beginning to feel the emotional drain of everything that is going on. This is a normal stage in the process of grieving losses in life and Mom is definitely experiencing loss! We have been so blessed by each of you who have reached out to us with notes of encouragement, meals and love. Your prayers have been like a life vest keeping us afloat in the sea of unknown. Thank you!

Amy