May I Have an Oreo?

This morning the phone finally rang with the biopsy results.  The report was all wonderful!  There was no sign of cancer, no recurrence of the mutated chromosome (the "Philadelphia Chromosome" that caused his rare form of leukemia), no evidence of any viral or bacterial infection.  The new marrow is still 100% engrafted, and all the other tests on heart, lungs, eyes, and ears showed no problems.  Michael was declared to "look really good!"

We have been warned that we are in a fairly unusual position with Michael's remission.  Since his cancer is rare and the treatment used to get him into remission was rather new, the doctors cannot be sure of what to expect. They'll repeat the biopsies more often than usual and continue looking for both the chromosomal anomaly to return and the cancer which would certainly follow.  They continue to believe, though, that it would be unlikely that the cancer would return if Michael is able to reach two years of remission.  So far . . . six months!

We were thrilled (and relieved) to hear the news.  Michael's response was a bit understated as usual.  He smiled and nodded when I whispered details to him while I was still on the phone with the nurse.  When I asked him later how he'd like to celebrate, he calmly asked, "May I have an Oreo?"  Gotta love a kid who celebrates such an important milestone with milk and cookies.