No Cancer Found in the Bone Marrow!

Today was a day that was looming in front of us for a while. Back in December when Steve was released from the hospital we knew it would be at least 3 months before another bone marrow biopsy (BMB) would be done. Even though he had regular lab work done, the BMB is the only test where they can actually see the cancer. They look for how much cancer is in the bones and conduct cytogenetic testing to see if the disease has caused any chromosomes to change (which can be very bad). Steve and I were both hoping for at best a low cancer percentage, somewhere between 1 to 9 percent. (Since he still had an m-spike of 1.0). But when the doctor came in to the room and said the BMB looked really good and there was no cancer we were shocked. I'm still taking it all in. Now I will try my best to explain why the biopsy results surprised us. Myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells. Typically a plasma cell goes bad and begins to clone it self, over and over and over, crowding out all the good plasma cells, red blood cells, etc. This is called monoclonal gammopathy. Steve's biopsy showed 5% polyclonal plasma cells. What does this mean? Well, they cannot see the cancer in his bone marrow even though he has a high protein level or m-spike. The doctor is not sure where the m-spike is coming from since there is no cancer that would appear to be causing it. His cancer level can be so minute that only a very special test can detect it. I would say it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. (As long as you don't land on it it can't hurt you!) His results are so unusual the doctor has only seen this happen one other time. According to her we don't need to worry about his cancer coming back for a long time and this is great news! He will still be put on maintenance therapy. But for the mean time I feel like I can finally exhale.............:-) Please keep praying for little Hayden. He is almost five and has been battling cancer since he was 1 1/2. He has relapsed for a second time and it doesn't look very promising.