Day one on Gleevec - 10th March '06

Last night we got Lisa up here to get her blood drawn at the local doctor to type test for a potential bone marrow match. If she is a perfect match, her bone marrow will be harvested and frozen in case Steven needs it down the road. This has put a great responsibility onto her and she has done fantastically by stopping smoking immediately! She will be going to the doctor to make sure that she is totally healthy and able to give up some of her marrow. It was not easy to get blood from her and we thought at one point that she was not human - she was pricked multiple times and would not bleed even one drop! So we took her to the hospital to get it done - they refused so we went to Physicians Care and the same doctor was there who treated Steven in the beginning of all this. What an amazing guy! He coaxed the much needed blood from Lisa, slowly but surely, while Frank held her hand - or rather she squeezed his, and I did paperwork and dared to look! This was the first time I actually looked at a needle going into someones arm without having to turn away.

Lisa was fantastic - I know she hates needles but she did this with a smile, hope and there were plenty of good vibes going into those tubes along with her blood.

Today the final blood tests on Steven came back positive for CML and not something worse or more difficult to treat, so he was able to go and get his pills. Gleevec costs $100 per pill and he has to take 1 pill a day = $3000.00 per month. His insurance is fantastic!

The bottles are small and unremarkable but so precious! He has been started on 400mg Gleevec and 300mg Allopurinol. Next week Friday is the next appointment and by then we should see the wbc normalising........

And so the treatment starts............... may it go smoothly and very very well.