Lymphoblast Shlymphoblast . . .

as our dear and very eloquent friend Liz said in an early comment when she was feeling bullish about Dayssi's progress.

We feel kinda bullish ourselves today. We got the lab results from Day 15, and from today (Day 23). Dayssi's Day 15 bone marrow biopsy showed 0% lymphoblasts in her bone marrow and there were 0% in her peripheral blood. If we can keep these levels where we are for another week or so Dayssi will be officially in "remission." These numbers are down from 94% at the time of her diagnosis.

The results of the chromosome tests also came back from St. Judes. The chromosomal abnormalities in Dayssi's blasts (translocation of chormosomes 12 and 21) appear in 25% of leukemia cases and they are diagnostic of a favorable outcome.

Then, if this weren't reason enough to celebrate, Dayssi's counts are up. Her ANC (absolute neutrophil count) went from around 100 last week to 980!! Below 500 is neutropenic -- the body is extremely vulnerable to infection and can't fight anything off on its own. The doctors like to see her at or above 1000. So we are almost there. Dayssi's platelets are also up. Best thing about these changes: they indicate that her bone marrow is recovering. The leukocytes we've killed off are being replaced with new healthy functional blood cells.

If Dayssi's counts stay up this week, she will have her PICC line removed and a new PORT inserted next week. The port sounds pretty great. It is a kind of plug that is inserted under the skin and provides access to a central vein for administering medications and drawing blood. Cool thing about it is that it stays under the skin, there are no parts exposed, so it doesn't have to be cleaned or messed with, and Dayssi can bathe and even go swimming with it in. To use the PORT, we administer a numbing cream an hour or two beforehand and then a medical professional uses a needle to access the opening. But apparently it doesn't hurt at all.

Other results: Dayssi has gained almost 6 pounds since we left the hospital. She has not gotten any taller (:-). This should not surprise anyone who has read our previous blogs. Turns out this is a good thing: we learned recently that most kids, once they go off the steroids and move into phase II of treatment, become totally disinterested in eating. And the downward trend is is actually much scarier than upward, which, as much as we've joked about it, is also a little scary. This morning Jim asked, "Do you think she could explode?" He was only kind of joking. Anyway I suspect we'll be glad for whatever extra reserves we've been able to acquire.

Dayssi continues to endear more or less everyone she encounters. With her new puffy cheeks, buddha belly, and Don King hairdo, she is all the more adorable. She tends to have mood swings, also attributable to the steroids, so that sometimes she is much more subdued than usual, and other times she is a kind of manic, silly little chatterbox. We find her irresistible no matter what, but at the same time, it hurts to watch our "old" Dayssi, who we associate with our carefree, innocent, pre-leukemia life, morphing into our "new" Dayssi, who increasingly embodies the frightening picture of a child with a life threatening disease.

India is calming down somewhat as the rhythm of our lives approximates what she is used to. She has a new bike, which we've been taking out frequently, as we are in training for the ride to kindergarten in the fall. She also has her first dance recital coming up -- dress rehearsal tomorrow.

Jim and I are hanging in there. Neither one of us is firing on all pistons but between the two of us we are managing to function. We've found that spending money is soothing . . .yikes. So we have finally started our landscaping project, among other things.

Thanks again for the fantastic meals, and for the amazing and thoughtful gifts, phone calls, emails, letters and blog comments that have continued to pour in. Every single gesture touches us deeply.