Test Results

Late this afternoon, we were able to meet with one of Elena's nurse practitioners. She brought test result news.

Elena's MRI results were clear! Praise God! No signs of blood clots!
Also, no headaches today either! Another praise!

As for our HLA typing results, we found out that Liv is only a 50% match.
We are also only 50% matches. So, the bone marrow transplant team will now look at the national bone marrow donor lists to find a suitable match for Elena. The search will take about a week. Once potential donors are identified, other confirmatory tests will have to be run. That process takes about 4-6 weeks. That would keep us right on track for the transplant to take place some time in June.

We also talked about Elena's counts. Currently, they are more up and down, rather than on a steady rise. Elena's ANC has gone from 0 to 20 to 50 to 20 over the past four days. We were told that this is normal. This afternoon, Elena received her final dose of chemo for this treatment round. We now need a steady upward trend in count recovery. This may take another week. Elena's ANC will need to be in the hundreds before she can go home.

We also looked ahead to our next steps. Now that Elena has completed her first round of treatment, she will have another bone marrow test in the next week or two in order to determine if she is in remission. Also, in the next couple of weeks, we will meet the bone marrow transplant team at Egleston for the first time.

Thank you for continuing to be a part of this journey!

Please continue to pray:
for Elena's counts to show a strong steady recovery
for the right person to determine the right time for Elena to go home
for the perfect donor match for Elena
for peace and patience in the waiting
for joy and contentment to be found in each hour and in each day
for sadness and frustration to not take hold of our hearts
for worry and fear to not creep in
for Elena to be in remission and for complete healing!

In Him,
The Tates

" We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust His holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you. " Psalm 33:20-22