Typical Mason. He’s so
happy and so strong laying in his hospital bed. He always tells us how great he’s
feeling, and he even looks it, too! He’s definitely gotten taller. My parents
say it’s because of all the sleep he’s been getting. As my dad talked about not
feeling too well, Mason replied, “Are you sure they’re not slipping the chemo
in your body? Cause that’s exactly what it makes you feel like.”
That funny conversation was
before the doctor came in and told us what’s been going on with some tests that
had recently been done on Mason. He had been in earlier, but that was only with
my mom and Mason, so he came to explain to the rest of us. Mason is getting a
full karyotype on his genes, which will come back later this week. A karyotype
is a picture of all the chromosomes in his DNA and what they look like under a
microscope. Each organism has a different amount of chromosomes, and humans
have 23 pairs. These chromosomes hold all of the genetic information of a
person, so the karyotype is able to give the doctors a full picture of how to
attack Mason’s leukemia. It will be a pretty good predictor of how Mason will
respond to treatment.
While specifically getting
information on certain genes in Mason’s DNA, they have discovered that he is
negative for the gene that some patients have, which makes it difficult for
chemo to be effective. That’s good news! The doctor has told us that leukemia
patients go down one of three paths. Patients can have the genes and type of
leukemia that allows them to only be treated with chemotherapy in which the
bone marrow transplant isn’t an option. They can be like the majority of
patients, which involves a waiting game to see how chemo works and a possible
bone marrow transplant while the patient is in remission. Lastly, the patient
might just need to try chemo, but a bone marrow transplant eventually will be
the best option.
Mason’s high spirits and
sheer determination to beat this leukemia combined with his positive reaction
to treatment thus far gives us all the greatest hope. Each day we get closer
and closer to having the strength that he has. The light that is his hope and
faith shines brighter every day. If there is anyone in the world who could beat
this, it’s my baby brother. Keep it up, Mason. No one could be more proud of
you.
Hey, Kenzie, please tell Mason how proud I am of him and you for your courage...love you
ReplyDelete