Today we attended the 9th annual NEMC National Cancer Survivors Day festivities. Look at the difference in Kancho from 6/09 to 6/10! These photo's were taken at the annual event both years. We are so grateful for his progress in the past year :-)
Kancho's PET scan on 5/18/10 and follow-up doctor's appointment went well. We traveled to UNC Hospital on 6/3/10 to meet with Kancho's transplant oncologist to confirm the PET scan reading and discuss the treatment process over the next year. Dr. Serody confirmed that the PET scan shows Kancho is in remission! YEY! He will get another PET scan in July and then he will go to 6 month scans thereafter. Dr. Serody states Kancho should be "out of the woods" at the end of year 2 (March 2012) as the percentage of relapse after 2 years is rare for his type of cancer. In the meantime, Kancho's counts remain low so the doctor wants to perform a bone marrow biopsy on 6/8/10 to make sure the transplanted cells are not damaged or deformed (could result in prolonged low counts). Given a patients compromised immunity following stem cell transplant, Kancho's doctor states he will not be able to return to teaching until this time next year. The risk for infection is too high given his low counts in addition to the fact that all his childhood vaccines were erased with the transplant. We celebrated Kylee's graduation from preschool on 6/4/10 and we are excited about her starting kindergarten this August.
We look forward to a fun summer full of time with family and friends. We hope you have the same :-)
Thanks again for the continued support and prayers,
Ali, Kancho and Kylee
