July 3, 2024

Tonight’s post contains both good and bad news.

First, the good news: Liam’s bone marrow biopsy results came back, and he is negative for leukemia! The treatment of Phase 1 worked. This was such a relief for us to hear. Thank you for praying.

As we head into Phase 2 next week, the purpose of continued (and more intense) chemotherapy is to keep Liam in remission and ensure leukemia does not return.

Now, for the bad news:

• Liam is still spiking fevers, and his heart rate has been concerningly high. A CT scan today revealed that Liam has a bunch of possible “micro abscesses” in his liver and spleen from a bacterial or fungal infection. His oncologist said this is uncommon but not unheard of. Such infections are very easy for Liam to pick up as he is immunosuppressed due to leukemia treatment. As I write this post, they are about to start Liam on a new antibiotic and antifungal medicine to see if they work to target the infections. With new medications come new possibilities of adverse reactions and adding more toxicity to Liam’s body. I'll be up past midnight watching for any adverse effects. All this to say, this news has been harsh for us to hear tonight, and our hearts ache.

• The medical team also informed us that Liam’s ANC should be higher right now, but it isn’t. This is probably due to infection. Today, his ANC dropped to 220. Unfortunately, this means that he may not be ready to get his port surgically placed on Monday. For context, a port is placed for long-term chemo treatment, and they wanted it in place to start Phase 2 next week. The ANC count needs to be 500-1000 for surgery, and they also can’t do surgery if he’s still having fevers.

• All of this means we’re going to be at the hospital at least through Monday as the medical team works to dig deeper into whats going on and give treatment. 

Please pray for healing, for new medicines to target infections, for wisdom for the medical team, and for a rise in ANC counts. Please pray for continued endurance, faith, and peace as the discovery of abscesses bring new challenges and complications over the coming days.