Start the Prayers Up Again!!

Hello Everyone,

It's me again so excuse the typing and spelling. I hope this finds you all enjoying this beautiful weather and a quiet weekend with your families.
On thurs. afternoon i called down to Penn to get the results of that days lab results. I was sure i would need blood and platelets because of the way i was feeling. Sure enough my labs were all low and they said to come down early Fri. am. A short time later Dr. Porter's secretary called and said that Dr. Porter wanted to see me on friday. Never a good sign, when he wants to see me outside of a scheduled appointment. Of course, I had a sleepless night, but I did figure out what it was he wanted to talk to me about. Unfortunately, my instincts were correct. I recieved blood and platelets and waited for him for an hour and a half. When he came in the room looking quite somber, he said well "You're alright, you're blood is alright at the moment, and I stopped him midsentence and said "It takes three weeks for the cytogenetics to come back on a bone marrow and I bet there are not good." And he said, "You are right." Unforntuately, my chromosomes have flipped back to where they were when they were first diagnosed. So heres the gist of what he said, technically I am still in remission because there is no leukemia in my blood, but it is just a matter of time before the leukemia will reer its ugly head, which is called relapse. Relapse is never good. He will not be able to use my stem cells, not that there are any right now because I am still immunosuppressed (meaning my bone marrow is not functioning up to par yet). So I need a bone marrow transplant and I need it soon. He was able to find two donors which are a 9 out of 10 match. Which is pretty good, but will still be very dangerous. He said I should have a 40 to 50 chance of survival as long as I am in remission and possibly be cured of the leukemia completely if it works. 6-8 weeks in the hospital and a long isolated stay at home. He said I should count on rejectionwhich is a good thing in small amts. because it will kill all the leukemia.If it is alot of rejection, well thats another story. I will need to take anti-rejection drugs and steriods for up to a year, maybe forever. Barry Bonds better watch out! The other option he gave was a mini transplant which is less chemo, they do not completely kill the immune system, but it is not as effective but it is safer. The third option was to do nothing and let nature take its course. I do not think that sounds like an option to me, I'm not quite ready to give up the fight yet. So, once again we are trying to decide what to do but i think i will opt for the mini transplant. Thanks to all the love and support you have shown me, I am OK. I am putting myself in the hands of God and he willl do whats best. Where's the cosmos!!! Remember I was able to see Emma born and Michael graduate Penn State. Unforntuately the family is not quite acting the same. They are very upset. Again, Where are the Martini's!! I have to decide pretty quickly so I can get the donor, (whomever that may be) tested and stem cells harvested. Again I have to have the transplant while i am in remission. Dr. Porter said i can convert back over to leukemia at any time. So please start the prayers, novenas, and rosaries again. I hate to give you bad news, i dont want any of you to worry about me because i really am ok, because of your love. I will write again as soon as i know any more about the situation. I am still waiting for my numbers to return to normal, but i am feeling pretty well. Hoping to get Jessie, Walid, and the kids to the shore sometime soon and spend QT with the family. A trip to Italy would be nice too. And a nice dinner with Brad Pitt would be swell too, but the word on the street is that he is pretty tied up as well. I love love love you all and will be posting again soon.


Love you all,
Debbie