Great News!!

So we got word today about Eliot's diagnosis. Not the extra, super final word. That will come on Thursday. Today's was the pretty much final, mostly final, enough final to schedule the next appointment, we'd be real surprised if this isn't the deal diagnosis.

It appears that Eliot has Standard Risk (low) pre-B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) with the TEL-AML something-or-other and is in the rapid-responder low-risk group. If you, my wonderful reader, are a doctor who knows what they're talking about or if you've done any reading or know anything about this stuff you're probably laughing. This shows what I remember about what I'm told.

The good, awesome news is this. From everything I can tell this is the best news we could get.

ALL is common, being in the standard risk low is good, having TEL-AML is good, being a rapid responder is good, being in the low-risk group is good, not having leukemic cells hanging out in the testicles and brain and other frightening areas is all very, very good.

Eliot will get a spinal tap the next three week so they can put chemo in his spinal fluid. He'll get a shot of chemo through his port (which takes a very short time), he might get a shot in his legs and he'll start on oral chemo-therapy.

So what seems to me like a pretty hard-core dose of medicine is coming his way. We'll learn more about what this means on Thursday and beyond as far as his quality of life is concerned. From what I can tell it means he might be tired and sore and might need to take some anti-nausea drugs. His hair will keep falling out.

We also expect his face and shoulders will deflate and he'll continue to have an easier time walking.