Greeeeeat Results!!

Results are in and they are g-r-e-a-t!  


BCR-ABL/G6PDH RNA ratio : 0.0087%
BCR-ABL RNA (International scale) : 0.020%

The results read: The international scale(IS) defines a BCR-ABL RNA level of 0.1% as being equivalent to a 3.0 log reduction from a standardized median pre-treatment baseline value. This 0.1% international scale level is, by definition, a 'major molecular response" (MMR) as established in the IRIS study.

Steven had been hovering around the 0.19% (IS) mark for a good many PCR's and now this jump downwards almost at his 4 year anniversary. This is great news, but we are aware that another two PCR results of this type is needed before we really break out the party :)


Funny, it was this time that I was a tad more concerned - or was it nervous, about the results.  Steven looked a bit pale lately, but I never really know if its because of the approaching pcr or its results...  Maybe it was just me.  It definitely seems that way with these results :)


You know how people will tell you to "go to your happy place" when you are stressed out or going through a procedure that hurts... well, waiting is like that - in many ways and on a good few levels 'hurts' too but let me tell you that its almost impossible to 'go to my happy place' during those days.  I don't sit around and mope, I don't bite my nails too often anymore while waiting and I dont let the worry take control of me, but I always feel how good it feels when the results are in by comparison to just a minute or three before that.  


So much changes as soon as those results come in.....everything looks brighter and ... well - its wonderful.  Especially this time!  So...... here are some of my 'happy places' I love - just a few.

ps..... can you tell that I am a happy bird now ?  :)

Waiting.........

Waiting drives me N-U-T-S!!

Sometimes I feel as if my head is really closer to my rear end (no comments, Kate!:) than on my shoulders, and the world feels upside down - but then I know that somehow, sometime it will all be right again...  

There is a little shop just down the road from us that hand carves full size carousels and is now busy with a project in repairing a bunch of old animals that were thrown away or just let to get too old....  This particular horse really had me thinking that this is exactly how I feel around this time of waiting for test results. 

We are still waiting for those blasted PCR results.  Waiting drives me nuts..........

It will be ok.  It will be ok.  It WILL be ok!

Dr Druker gets Portland First Citizen Award :)

Dr. Brian J. Druker will receive the prestigious 2010 Portland First Citizen Award in April.

The award, given by the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors, has been given annually since 1928 for outstanding contributions to the community.

The award will be presented at the Portland First Citizen Banquet, to be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. April 21 at the Governor Hotel.

Druker, who specializes in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia, is director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute and holds the JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research at Oregon Health & Science University. He also is an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Druker is credited with leading the development of Gleevec, a revolutionary drug that helped push the survival rate of leukemia patients from 50 percent to 90 percent.

Gleevec has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration for use in pediatric patients and six other cancers.

Druker has received numerous awards for his work on the development of Gleevec, including the 2009 Lasker-DeBakey Award for Clinical Research, sometimes called “America’s Nobel." He also received the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s Pioneer of Survivorship Carpe Diem Award and the Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society.

Druker joined OHSU in 1993 after earning his medical degree from the University of California School of Medicine at San Diego. He completed his residency at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. and did an oncology fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School.

A forerunner of the Realtor group established the First Citizen Award in 1928 to honor civic achievements and business leadership in the community. The organization will also present its Future First Citizen Award to a promising high school student and the PMAR Good Neighbor Award to a Realtor member for commitment to the community.