Good news today! Dr. Barlogie says that Tanner should be able to come home soon!! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!!!

As you can imagine, we have sometimes felt isolated up here in Arkansas with most of our loved ones in Texas and the thought of being able to come home for a while is pretty uplifting (to put it mildly)!!

When the PA came in to see us today, he asked how Tanner did during this round of chemo and was very surprised to hear that he didn't get as sick this time around as he did during the first round of chemotherapy. He said this treatment of chemo was the most aggressive form and he couldn't believe how well Tanner did. Dr. Barlogie was suprised to hear how well he did too but he said he could believe it because Tanner is a "youngster".

He looked over all the lab reports and said that Tanner is doing very well and that we should be able to go home in about a week. Needless to say, I got a little teary and Granny Jane and Tanner got pretty excited. Actually going home is something I've not allowed myself to dwell on much these last few weeks. I've tried to just focus on Tanner's treatment and have functioned by just living in the moment. The thought that my baby has improved enough that Dr. Barlogie uses words like "in remission" and "go home" brings me to tears. I've been waiting to hear those words but have barely hoped that they would come this early in his treatment.

Before he left the exam room, Dr. Barlogie qualifed his statement about going home in a week with the requirement that Tanner's platelet count has to reach 50 - and that he has to reach it on his own and not with another platelet transfusion.

Yesterday his platelet count was 9 and today it was 25 but I know that it only jumped to that number because of the transfusion that he received yesterday. It will be interesting to see what the number is tomorrow and for the rest of the week. Believe me, Tanner and I both will be watching that number anxiously every day now.

I asked the doctor what happens when we come back after going home for three to four weeks and he told me he would see us next week and we will talk more about what is going to happen then. From what I gather from the other patients, after the stem cell transplant and recovering from being neutropenic, he allows the patients to go home for a few weeks and then when they come back he runs all the tests again. Once he gets the results of those tests, he will decide how to continue their treatment. But as I've said, that's just speculating based on what I've heard from some of the other patients.

Tanner is so excited about getting to go home for a while. He says the first thing he wants to do is see his family. Get ready everyone, we will be home soon!