May 28th - New PCR results

I'm actually a little behind, I never did post my PCR results from back in February. The PCR test takes place every time I am down at OHSU, or 4 times a year.

The tests in February were somewhat of a small shocker. While my PCR was weak positive (same as before), and FISH was clean, my cytogenetics which hasn't had evidence of CML since 3 months into the trial, suddenly showed 1 CML cell out of 20. Given the sample size, it's quite shocking statistically to have such a small sample show a CML cell. Both my previous and current doctor assured me it was a fluke, since the other two tests were not consistant, but the emotional side of me struggled with what it could mean. So, fast forward, the PCR test in May had some added significance, since it would show if there really was more active leukemia, or the fact that it was a fluke.

The May PCR was released during the automatic release process in the middle of the night. I woke up very early for some reason, and by routine this time of the year, I checked my email on my phone. And sure enough, there was a message that there were test results waiting for me at the OHSU site......

Some day I will take my blood pressure during the keystrokes of going to OHSU.EDU, and finding the test results. Nerve wrecking is an understatement. By habit, I know exactly where on the test to look, and luckily the numbers or words that I want to see, are in the first few lines....And there they were, the results were UNDETECT. A huge relief obviously, it confirms that May was a fluke, and even more importantly it dropped from last time. How much is almost impossible to know, since I am under the threshold of the test. For now, I am going to cheerish those results, especially in light of an upcoming vacation that I have been looking forward to for some time now.