Journal entry by Adam O'Kelley —
Amanda and I met with my Leukemia Dr yesterday to discuss moving forward with another 28 day cycle of the clinical trial. The first cycle ended last week with mixed results, but the Dr has indicated that he is still optimistic as they are seeing that this trial is sometimes taking 3-4 cycles to induce a remission. My bone marrow is still producing Leukemia cells, but it’s also producing good cells, which is kind of strange. My platelet count had shot up to near 100 yesterday, which is the highest that it has been since December, so something positive is happening in my bone marrow. Now, if we can just keep it from making those Leukemia cells, we should be in a much better position. Hopefully this trial will work and do just that.
It’s been about 3 months since I’ve had any type of immune system, so we’ve been living on a razor’s edge, trying to balance life but not putting myself in a position to get sick or develop an infection right now. Infections are not good and potentially deadly when you are neutropenic (no immune system), so I’ve been masking up and staying home a lot when I’m not down at MDA. Amazingly, I have not had any type of cough, cold, etc and am currently doing very well on the no infection front…..Praise the Lord! Please pray that continues! If we can get in a remission, my body should start making those good infection fighting cells again and not the Leukemia cells.
All in all, I think we are in an okay spot right now. Things could be better, but they could also be much worse. Fighting Leukemia is a daily grind, but the good news is that I am relatively healthy otherwise and am not battling any other major health issues that could complicate things. My Dr. has told me to have a “marathon” mentality….. that this may take a while. Well, the best way to run a marathon is to keep putting one foot in front of the other no matter how tired you are or how much it hurts…..it can be as simple as taking one more step…again and again. We are going to keep attacking this one day, one step at a time and are so thankful for all of you out there that have been praying for us. It’s been a tough few months, but our spirits are high and we feel loved.
On the family front, Aidan has just completed his school baseball season. It was a rebuilding year for them, but they improved so much from the first game to the last and we’re looking forward to next year. I was even able to make several of the games! Addison continues to recover from her two broken wrists. She was upgraded to casts below her elbow a few weeks ago and she hasn’t slowed down a bit…..kids adapt so well! Hopefully she’ll have the casts removed next week and transition to some sort of removable splints. As always, Amanda is tirelessly taking care of all of us……don’t know how she does it, but I’m very thankful for such an extraordinary partner!
Also, I was able to delay the start of cycle 2 for a few days so we could slip up to Tyler and stay a couple of days with my brother and his family. Tyler was in the path of totality, so we were able to enjoy seeing the eclipse as a family. I’d been planning this trip for 5 years or so, so I’m glad it all worked out. The clouds even parted like the Red Sea about 10 minutes before the eclipse, so it was just meant to be😀.
Thank you all for being a part of our story, and I’ll update soon.
Stay Rooted,
Adam
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