Sophie's World

4:00 PM: We got good news today from the doctors. Sophie's Minimal Residual Disease (MRD, a sophisticated count of the number of leukemia cells in her bone marrow) was less than 1%. These are the results that we have been hoping for, as they confirm the earlier, unofficial indications that Sophie's leukemia is effectively in remission. For now, we will be in a holding pattern until Sophie's body is strong enough (and her counts are high enough) to proceed on to the next phase of treatment, which is called "consolidation." The goal of this next phase (and several phases after that) is to ensure that the leukemia does not return. Once this treatment starts (and it could start as early as next Tuesday), it will consist of a different regimen of chemotherapy over approximately two months. We will still have weekly clinic visits and we will still be wrestling with scary side effects from all the drugs, but as the doctor told us on the phone, today, we have a reason to celebrate!