On Day +159 (February 21, 2007, Wednesday)

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for YOU ARE WITH ME.

Summary [from Feb. 17 to 20]: Charley did walk through the shadow of death over the weekend. His blast in peripheral blood jumped from 10 (last Friday) to 65% while the WBC was increasing from 9,000 to 27,000 on Tuesday. Furthermore, the liver function is damaged by leukemic attack so that the total Bilirubin increased quite high (5.0). A consequence, the selection of chemotherapy drugs becomes limited. Charley was given two different steroid drugs for three days. The outcome in slowing down the leukemic spread was disappointing. The first dose of chemotherapy (VP-16) was given on Monday evening.

We are all moved by his perseverance and strong will for life. Charley is brave - still keeps calm and never complains although suffering from intensive pain all over his body. The medical team wants to balance the treatment with a good quality of life so they let him take morphine as much as he asks. However, Charley never requested and thus, the doctor was forced to prescribe a constant morphine IV injection with low dose.

We have been told: “Charley touches many people’s hearts”. The most heart-broke phenomenon was that the clinician, attending doctor, social worker and nurses wept with us when they informed us the BMT failure or came to visit Charley. The bone marrow transplant ward gave Charley a warm welcome. The oncology medical doctors and bone marrow nurses formed a superb team. They keep us updated, listen to our concerns, address the questions to our satisfaction, encourage us hanging in with HOPE and always provide Charley any necessary care immediately.

Charley’s belly is enlarged as a balloon due to splenohepatomegalia. The splenomegalia compressed his stomach and makes him lose his appetite. The enlarged liver and spleen compressed his diaphram and make the lungs have fluid. Charley’s blood oxygen was as low as 70s and he has been on oxygen since day 1.

There are many, many people praying for Charley. Churches in Massachusetts, Florida and Michigan joined prayers since last Saturday. Some intercession network even reaches Rome. Drs. Leung (from Vancouver) and Ho (LA) visited us twice and had healing prayer. Teachers, chaplain, pastors, “old” friends and “new” friends came to the bed site while Charley was under “serious condition”. We also appreciated friends who have medical, BMT and cancer therapeutic background give the advice and support in time, including, Drs. Cheng, Yen and Liao.

Today’s progress:

The report from 12 pm is very encouraging: WBC dropped to 14,000, blasts only increased 2% and Bilirubin dropped to 3.3. The attending doctors smile with sort of relief. Our joy just cannot be expressed by words. Now, we have more courage and trust to walk with Charley until he reaches “complete remission”. With a trend of improving liver function, he may have a better chance to add two more chemo drugs at day 8 following the protocol.

Charley started feeling hungry last night. Today, he began to eat and drink! Hallelujas!

The oncology team made a decision to move Charley to pediatric hematology-oncology ward this evening in order to take care of him closely. The new room number is 622 (6 North) and room phone number: 617-355 3712.