And so it begins again....

Trish has had a great year. We're all just really finally hitting our stride as a family again, than the next new wrinkle in all our lives.

Trish's white blood count has been dropping each month for a handful of months, but no other indications of problems have been seen, until today. Dr. Fu had started to take blood every other week to keep a better eye on Trish. When the blood looked low this week Dr. Fu scheduled a bone marrow biopsy for today.

After getting sedated by the nurse, Dr. Fu came in and said unfortunately we really didn't need to do the biopsy. There were blasts in Trish's blood. Blasts are the bad cells that don't fully develop into good blood cells. The blasts were at 9% -- when she was diagnosed the first time - the blast count was much greater.

We immediately got our friends from Johns Hopkins on the phone. They initially wanted Trish to report for treatment on Monday, but agreed that Tuesday/Wednesday would be ok if her blood level held during a test on Monday. This is significant because the boy have their first two Lacrosse games on Saturday and Monday. She should now be able to see these before leaving. So, she'll get blood levels drawn on Monday, than go to work.

If there is no change we'll fly to Baltimore on Tuesday. Wednesday morning Trish will get blood drawn, have a PICC placed (a different line than the Hickman she had last time) and have a bone marrow biopsy. It will be a very busy day.

She will be admitted as an inpatient either Wednesday or Thursday (Happy Valentines Day) and she will begin chemo before Friday for sure. This chemo will prep her for a bone marrow transplant. We'll learn more next week. Watch this space. Please start those prayers, which may have been forgotten during the healthy times. Thanks.