Lets start with the good news. We received word that Tony is eligible for Donor Lymphocyte Infusion (or DLI) instead of a second bone marrow transplant. This is amazing news as this treatment is far less dangerous for him to undergo. (And he is happy to not have to lose all his hair again. It's coming back in so fuzzy and soft with just a touch more gray. Though his mustache is coming in darker than it used to be).
When we went in last Thursday to start chemo they delayed it again. We still are unsure exactly what's going on with his liver and the numbers are still too high to start chemo safely. Yesterday he had another ultrasound done, but it didn't give any definitive answers. Today he had an MRI done and we should have results back tomorrow or Thursday. Once again, we've been told that he will start chemo on Thursday. But this will be the 4th time so I guess we'll see if it actually happens this week.
We had the opportunity to ask a few questions while we were there on Thursday. They are still working out a solid plan but we were told he will likely do another high dose of the maintenance chemo, then five weeks later get a DLI, then do another maintenance chemo, then DLI again 5 weeks later, and then one final DLI about 5 weeks after that. Then they will just watch and see if everything worked. We've already talked to his original donor and he is very willing to do the lymphocyte donation so that this can happen. The risks involved with this treatment are pretty minimal for Tony. They said he could have a bit of Graft vs. Host disease if it was bad the first time, but it was pretty mild the first time so we're hopeful that everything should run fairly smoothly.
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