He's 6 Months Old!

       Hey everyone, it’s Mason! I know it’s been awhile since the last blog post but this one is very special. In around early November, I had a flare of Graft vs. Host disease. This disease is when the new bone marrow (engraftment) starts to attack one or more of three organs of the body. It can affect the skin, the stomach, or the liver. My Graft vs. Host (GvH for short) had affected my skin causing an itchy, irritating rash. Shortly after my diagnosis of GvH I was put on a medicine called prednisone which is a steroid that’s job was to help calm down my new marrow. It was successful! Finally, this past week I could be taken off prednisone. GvH has a scale of brutality from 1-4. 1 is simply a small faint rash on one part of the body. 2, which is what I had, is an itchy rash from the waist up. 3 is a rash on the whole body, and 4 is a rash with blistering. GvH is also looked at as a positive thing in the Oncology world. Knowing there is an effect of Graft versus Host also tells us that there is an effect of Graft versus Leukemia. This past Monday my mom, my dad, and I left for Baltimore because on Tuesday I had all of my 6-month tests. Tuesday morning I had a pulmonary function test, which tests the strength of my lungs. After that I had blood drawn along with a lumbar puncture and a spinal tap. The lumbar puncture and spinal tap are to check to see if I am still 100% of new bone marrow and also to make sure no leukemia cells remain. We got the fantastic news on Thursday night that I am still Leukemia free after 6 months!

            As not much will be happening within the next few months (prayerfully), I will try and post on the blog as much as I can to keep you all updated on everyday things. I thank you all so much for all of the support and everything you have done for me. I could not have done any of this without all of you reading this. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Once again, in the wise words of St. Augustine, “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”