Michael is doing well today and continues to eat more and look better each day.
Michael is meeting with his Make a Wish coordinators this weekend. He is making a wish to go see Mickey and Disney World in Florida. We have to work with them to find out the best time to go down to Disney. When there is not a lot of people in the parks. Then we will probably stay down there for about a week.
Good News! Woo hoo! Micheal's AFP came back at 5.2 today. That is even better then last time. Michael has not been on his hard chemo since the second week of December. We will have new labs next week on Thursday. For now all is well in the Dyer house. We are still waiting for the immunity to come back up but hopefully that will be soon. We will update you again soon.
Michael had some of his labs came back. His white blood cell have come back up but still not normal. His red blood cells are going up but it is not normal yet either. His platelets are now within the normal range. We still are waiting for Michael's immunity to come back to normal. It has gone from 700 to 1000. Normal is 2300 to 9800, so again a couple more weeks out of church and in the house. We are still waiting for his AFP (the test that tells us his cancer cells). This is the test that we are very nerve about. Michael's last chemo was December 10th. This number hopefully will be normal and close to the U of M number. St. Joseph is now doing this test for us so we do not have to drive to Ann Arbor. Keep praying that no cancer grows. The first 18 months of not having chemo is the best chance of the cancer coming back. Our first goal is to get him to April and the official remission. Then to get him to the 18 months goal, then each year after until he is 7 1/2 or 8 years old. That would mean he would be considered cured.
Michael has blood tests today so we are a little nervous.
Please pray his levels are all still normal and we will update the blog when we get the test results which should be sometime later this afternoon.
God Bless
Russ
Michael is doing well. Still has a bit of the effects from the Vincristine. He stubbles and falls a bit but he is getting better. He has been very good about trying to eat at every meal. He is sitting here on daddy's lab eating his yogurt bits. We go to get his labs done on Thursday. Hopefully his immune system will finally be up to the normal range.
Micheal is doing well today. He is getting more active. He is even more willing to try new foods. We still have to wait for his immunity to come back up before we can go back to church. We will have to get him back into Sunday school once his immunity has been back up for a while. It will be great to be able to go places again. I would love to plan small trips for the family to just get away. Some place we can just go and forget about the hospitals, doctors and being sick. I hope we can go and just enjoy being a family and having fun.
Michael had his labs today. Everything is starting to come back up. His White and Red cells have moved up and his platelets are finally in the normal range. However, his immunity is still not up all the way yet. We hoped that it would be at least 2300 but it is still only 700. This means we will not be able to be at church this Sunday. He will have labs next week and we will see if he is finally back to normal yet.
Michael is doing well. We were watching G-force and at the end of it all the kids started dancing around. Right in the middle of it was Michael. I could not help but smile as they danced around the lounge. At one point Michael looked at me with a huge smile on his face. It is so good to see all my children acting like children and not worrying about being sick or Michael being to sick to do anything. This year has started to great.
If you are a church that would love to have the group that Russ sings with "Glorybound" come and preform please let us know. We will give your information to the coordinator so he can schedule performance. We would also love to bring Michael along and give our testimony about our journey with cancer. We would then also get a chance to meet so many of our prayer warriors. Glorybound will be preforming at Wendy's in Owosso, Michigan in February 2010. We hope to meet the Wendy's staff and thank them for their support during our journey last year.
After many hours of travel yesterday it was worth getting the news that we got. We now move to our next phase of life with Michael. We have to try to get back to normal, but still knowing in the back of our minds that he is still not completely in the clear for many years to come. We will see doctors less for now and not have as many scans, but we will still need to watch and make sure his cancer cell number stays normal. We will also have to get CT/MRI scans every 3 months to make sure nothing is coming back. The doctor said that he will feel better when he has been off chemo for three months with growth on scans. That is why we have a tentative remission right now and why April will be the remission month. All tho we are not done with everything it should get a lot easier. So yes, Michael will not have anymore chemo for now (and hopefully never again). We will still need your prayer for years to come.
We went in today to talk to the doctors about what the scans have showed. The MRI showed no new growth for the second time. The CT showed the same nodules that have been in his lungs. All are stable which should now indicate that they are scare tissue. The oncologist told us that he is tentatively in remission. If all the scans are the same in April we will get the full in remission statement from the doctors. We will have labs draw in two weeks to check the cancer cell number to make sure it is staying in the normal range. Then again the beginning of February. Then in April we will have the new CT/MRI scans to confirm that he is indeed in remission.
We find out tomorrow about Michael's CT/MRI scans. They will compare them to the PET scan done last week. If all looks good then he will be considered in remission. We go for labs in the morning and that should include the AFP the cancer cell number. His last cancer cell number was 3.0. Hopefully it will stay in the normal range. We will update everyone tomorrow.
Cathy and I would like to request prayer for my fellow workmate and friend Jim Nichols family and their son Abel. Here is some information from Jim.
Abel Seth Nichols was born on March 3rd, 2009. He was recently diagnosed with Zellweger syndrome, a terminal rare genetic disorder with no treatment or cure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zellweger_syndrome
He has been a blessing to Alyssa and I. We do not take one moment with him for granted. We would be very grateful for any prayers regarding his comfort and safety.
Michael had labs today and we should know soon if his bone marrow has recovered more. He is sitting and playing with one of Makayla's toys today. He done with the antibiotic's he was taking. Tonight I should get a good nights sleep. Michael has his CT and MRI scan tomorrow. We go back Thursday of this week to find out what the scans show. He is still a little grumpy but I am starting to see him have a little more fun. He is also eating a little more solid food.
Today I got to go shopping by myself. I don't think I can remember the last time I got to go shopping alone. I was able to get new clothes from the Christmas money I got. I also got new cups for Tristan. No more sippy cups for Tristan. It was a nice break away from all the medication, IV's and flushes. Michael is almost done with the antibiotics. He will be done tomorrow night. I can't wait for that to be done. I might actually get a good long nights sleep again. His immunity is starting to come back. He is even starting to recover more and more the further away from the chemo.
Happy New Year everyone. Hopefully this year will be a better year for us. Michael is starting slowly to try some of the solid food again. He has grown a little bit more. He is drinking his special tea and is maintaining his weight. Michael will be going in for his CT and MRI on the 5th. On the 7th we will find out what they are planning to do going forward. Michael is also starting to get a bit of fuzz on his head again. He is now starting to recover his electrolytes now, so that means less meds. I have two more antibiotics to give him tonight and then bed. Thank goodness we only have two more days of the antibiotics. Everyone will get more sleep. Makayla starts the year out with getting sick. She is now isolated to the upstairs so Michael does not catch the bug. He is just now starting to get back his immunity. I just hope that his antibiotics will protect him.
We would like to thank everyone that has supported up, prayed for us, assisted us in anyway this last year. You have truly done what God has told us to do. Be kind to each other, showing love one to the another. We still have a long road in our future. Please continue to pray for all of us.