A good doctor's visit...

Stephanie and I headed down to Indy today for the first of Levi's weekly blood test / checkups.

When we got there, the doctor told us that Levi's spinal fluid biopsy came back negative and that his cytogenetics test (don't ask me to explain that one) came back ok. This was awesome news.

They took Levi's blood and everything came back normal, including his white blood cell, red blood cell, hemoglobin, and platelet count. Additionally, the doctor confirmed our belief that the spots on his skin were getting lighter and smaller. The doctor is encouraged by his progress, and is hoping that Levi's case turns out to be one of those "miracle cases" (his words) where he beats it on his own. He says that no one knows why some kids can kick it on their own. I told him there were tons of people praying for him. The nurse told us that she hopes he does it on his own, since she wants to experience one story like this so she can tell people about it. The doctor wants us to keep taking pictures of his spots so that he can use them to teach residents. He also wants a full genetic array performed after Levi's next bone marrow test so he can write up a case study on Levi.

It sounds like so much of his future treatment plans and scheduling will depend on the results of his bone marrow test, which will be in a couple of weeks. If it comes back showing a very low or 0% leukemia level, then this will confirm that the disease is going into remission without treatment and we can start scaling back on the frequency of his blood tests and checkups.

We are feeling very encouraged by the news today. While the doctors may not know why this is happening, we can sum it up in three words - God answers prayers. So all of you out there praying for our precious little boy, please keep it up, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Michael and Stephanie