Posted by a friend of Christine's on the Yahoo Group ( This is a huge relief!):"Dear everyone--
I was lucky enough to see Christine yesterday (Monday)
afternoon. I wasn't visiting exactly; she's still too
weak for visitors. But I was there to kind of
accompany her to a few appointments, wash a few
dishes, etc.
She had a PET scan before I arrived and while I was
there she had some blood work drawn. Most of the time
was spent waiting in various halls to hear about the
results of these tests. Mainly we talked and caught
up. While she seemed in good spirits, it was clear
she was tired and still wiped out from her recent
illness.
Finally we got called in and Dr. Nademanee, her doctor,
appeared. We were in a small room, which Christine
said was the room where she got all of her news--good
and bad. She was waiting to hear about 2 things: if
the PET scan showed any cancer in her body and whether
her blood counts were still really low (which would
mean she'd have to have an infusion).
On both counts, Christine got GREAT news. First of
all, the PET scan showed that she is cancer-free.
Cancer-free! This was the only time I saw Christine
kind of break down. She was so relieved and happy. I
didn't realize it but had the PET scan showed any
cancer at all, it would have meant Christine had only
months to live. My understanding is that out of all
the people who have had transplantss and lived on,
none had cancer at Day 100. All the ones who did
simply didn't survive.
This means that Christine still has a fighting chance.
This girl is a walking miracle.
The other happy news was that her blood counts went
up. I think they're still not great, but they were
good enough that she was able to go back to the
village instead of having to stay and have infusions.
So we took a little tram back from the hospital to the
village and celebrated Christine's victory with ice
cream.
Christine was still feeling so wiped out that she
didn't have the energy to email. So I hope I'm doing
her justice with this account. I don't know how to
convey how much emotion there was when she found out
there was no cancer in her. She's still not out of
the woods yet--next week, she'll take another
important test which will determine if the graft is
producing enough blood cells. But I can't imagine
anything beating her, I really can't.
So keep praying, everyone! And let's focus it on that
graft producing lots and lots of healthy blood cells.
And a big thank you to everyone on Christine's behalf.
julia"
--------------------------------------------------------
" I lift up mine eyes to the hills, whence cometh my help.", Psalm 121
--------------------------------------------------------
