More Questions than Answers

This morning, just as Brendan was getting his blood drawn, the doctor called to discuss the results of the bone marrow biopsies Brendan had on Tuesday.

 Basically, the biopsy results were inconclusive.  Even with the 4 biopsies from his hips, none were  "optimal" samples and they didn't have enough of the bone marrow to yield conclusive results.  (All 4 of the biopsies looked the same way.  And I guess it's not uncommon with a "blind" biopsy to not get an optimal sample.)  The good news is that they did not find definitive cancer cells, but with not enough bone marrow in the samples, they were not able to rule out the possibility either.

 So now what?
I was quizzed about Brendan's health and well-being.  So far, he is doing great.  He has not exhibited any of the symptoms that they would suspect to be at the root of possible problems.  He does not have joint or bone pain (indicative of metastatic bone disease).  He is not fevering (indicating a possible infection).  His blood counts were normal when tested at the hospital (unusual if there is a bone marrow problem), and his inflammatory markers (tested in the blood) were coming down when we left the hospital.

 So, as long as Brendan is "clinically" well (good blood pressure, no fever, etc.) they plan to let Brendan stay home for about two weeks and recover from the chemo treatment -- and let his blood counts drop and come back up.  (Word came back today that Brendan's ANC has dropped to 100 -- that's as low as I've ever seen them.  He'll have to be careful this week to stay away from illnesses.)

In a few weeks, when his blood counts are back up, we will set up a clinic appointment for him to be checked, then discuss what further treatments and tests may be needed.  Possible tests may include imaging tests, another bone scan, open bone biopsy (image assist), and/or further blood tests.

They have decided that Brendan is done with chemotherapy.  End of chapter three.  They feel he has had enough to fight the cancer, and with his increasingly alarming problems during chemo, it is not worth the risk to continue.

Knowing before we left the hospital that this was a possibility, Hillary let me know that Brendan WILL get his bell-ringing ceremony no matter what -- along with his bead for "end of treatment."  We will probably do it at his next clinic appointment.

I think the hardest part of this is knowing that before we finish one treatment plan, we will already be starting another (whatever that turns out to be).  Just as we felt we were nearing the finish line, we get a detour.  The MRI and the bone scan did show  bone abnormalities, we just don't have a definitive answer on what is going on or why.  So I guess we just keep on going!