The Longest Road

Good news today!  Will's counts doubled again overnight.  His white count is now up to 0.7, his platelets are 135 and his red count held overnight.
Hooray! 
We got this news around 8:30 AM and weren't sure if we should celebrate or not.  Sometimes increased counts are good, and sometimes they are bad, so we were anxious to ask the doctors about it.
The doctors, however, were in no rush to talk to us.  They didn't show up until 11:30AM!  That is the latest they have ever shown up by almost an hour.  About 11 AM we were tired of waiting so I went out in the hall to see if they were getting close.  Quan and Lance, our friends who did the bone marrow biopsy yesterday, were sitting and the front desk.
"What did he say?" Lance said, without even bothering to say hello "was I as good as Carl?"
I know we talked up Carl's bone marrow biopsy skills, but we must have really made an impression of our love of Carl to have this be the first question he asked.
"Well....." I said with a laugh "on the Carl scale, you are pretty high up there!  He said you did a pretty good job."
He sat up a bit taller as I said this and squared his shoulders with pride.  Quan patted him on the back and congratulated him.  It was such a great moment, I wished had a trophy or an award to present him with.
"When are you guys coming in to see us?" I asked, then the fanfare of the moment died down.
"We're almost there," Quan said "But we don't have a lot to talk about today, just the usual."
"We saw his labs already," I said, "And we weren't sure if they were good, good, or good bad."
Everyone laughed at that and one of the residents commented on how ironically true the statement "good bad" is in regards to cancer labs.
"Oh yeah we saw them!" She said enthusiastically "We were just talking about how crazy it is that all his counts doubled overnight.  We've never seen that happen!"
She said that is a very good thing and it made me feel better.  We talked for a moment more about how amazing Will's entire case has been in comparison to the normal cases they deal with.  His case, for them, is a cake walk and everyone seems to be relieved when they get to spend some time discussing his uncomplicated care. 
I came back to the room and the team came in a few minutes later.  They reassured us that the labs were indeed "good good" and that we will now looking forward to good bone marrow biopsy results.  Noura, the resident on the team, said the results could be in that afternoon and agreed to check in with us later to let us know what is going on.
They left just before noon.  I took a trip to the Oakland LDS temple which was a most beautiful distraction.  It was a perfect day and the sky was cloudless and deep blue.  Willie hung out in the room and watched some movies.  I got back to the room later in the afternoon and Noura showed up shortly after. 
"We go some preliminary results in," she said. 
My heart started to race.  I don't know when, or if, it will ever get easier to hear those words.
We waited with anticipation as she explained that the marrow looked perfect.  There were no leukemia cells there which is great! 
BUT...
We are learning that there is no good news in cancer care without a "but" clause.  The "but" here is that the blood work showed some blasts.  Blasts are premature cells that can turn into good cells or bad cells so only time will tell what those blasts are going to turn into.  She emphasized that this is all good news and we'll just keep an eye on the blasts.
She reminded us that this is one very small step on the path we now walk.  There is no way to know just how long this journey is going to be, but she reminded us that there is no need to feel antsy if things aren't speeding along at the pace we want. 
She was kind enough to stay for a while and talk to us about bone marrow transplants.  There is really no way to know if Willie needs a transplant at this point, but he is a good candidate for a transplant based on his genetic markers, age, and physical conditions.  There are risks and benefits to doing a transplant so it is something that we will need to learn more about and see what happens with his counts in time.
She reminded us that will discuss all of this further with the team over the coming days and they will be able to provide more answers. 
What a relief!  I know it's only a small piece of good news, but it is good news nonetheless and we will take it! 
Willie has been tired again today and is sleeping right now while he's "watching" the Giants game.  I think the Giants will forgive him for resting his eyes during the game since he is busy building healthy cells.  I can only imagine the work his body must be doing in order to double his counts for two days in a row now.  No wonder he's been tired!
Here's hope for doubled counts again tomorrow!
And may the Giants win tonight!