5...4...3...2...1...REMISSION!

We just got a call from the oncologist's office yesterday and the fantastic news is the PCR for bcr-abl was negative. Some of you may have remembered I just celebrated my second bone marrow transplant (bmt) birthday, on November 30. It was great. We had a jumpy castle, a petting zoo and clowns. Ok, actually we only had one clown; me. With these lungs I was almost unable to blow out those two candles (I think my youngest son helped me).

And just a few other things to catch up on. First, I took my wife to Denver this morning for her second neck surgery, which should begin at 12 noon. Of course my thoughts and prayers are with her at the moment.

I saw a cornea eye specialist and for starters he has put plugs in my eyes. This is supposed to keep tears on the eye longer because they can no longer drain where the plugs are. The next thing he has recommended for me is Autologous Serum Tears, which has apparently has some great success. People suffering from severe dry eye syndrome, including that caused by C-GVHD, are the prime candidates for this treatment. First they are testing my blood for HIV and HEP A,B,C. Once those results come back negative I go back to the lab and they draw 15 tubes of blood. It gets shipped to a pharmacy in California where they turn it into red cells that are full of good stuff. They send me three months supply and I use them as drops in my eyes twice a day. I still want to contact the Fred Hutch to get their blessing before I move forward but hopefully this is something that will work for me. Finally, the doctor said he can get rid of the cataracts anytime but recommends we wait until they because a real issue.

Lea, I cannot wait for you to get your appointment in Boston to hear what your impression is of the Boston lenses. Last I heard you had to postpone the trip. I mentioned them to my doctor but he said they are really a last resort because of cost and need to travel to Boston for eval, fitting, etc. And I don't think even my right eye is severe enough.

Overall I am feeling pretty good except that I seem to be breathless and tired much more lately. I just had another pulmonary function test yesterday and there is no change, hanging in there at FEV1 41%. I have to make these lungs work for at least three more years because they won't even think about a lung transplant until five years post bmt.

I have finally finished my UMUC Network Security course and am signed up for Cryptology beginning late January. That's about it. We've had lots of snow these past two days and the boys got a "no school" day today. Nice day to sit by the fire for some total laziness.

Thank you all for two years of wonderful support, emails, phone calls, and blog comments. And continued success to my fellow CMLers and BMTers out there. I hope 2010 is a great year for you all.

~David