Last Monday, Emilie had a bone marrow aspirate to check for cancer as well as a chimerism test to check the percentage of Nicolas' cells, which is hopefully 100%. Three weeks prior, they ran three tests exposing her cells to different "bugs". In order to get "off isolation", her cells had to be able to fight the "bugs" and pass 3 of 6 tests. While waiting in pre-op, we learned that her immune system is working just like a "normal person's immune system". She passed the first 3 tests, so she was officially off isolation. Emilie was thrilled that she was "FINALLY FREE!!!". Free to eat at restaurants, but not sushi. Free to go to school, but not hang out at preschool. Most exciting for Emilie, free to go to the mall with her friends. We said goodbye to her mask...kind of as she will need to wear it near a construction zone (which means every time we visit the hospital). While we were all excited and extremely grateful about the freedom report, we had 24 hours to wait until we learned about her MRD (minimum residual disease) results. Tuesday we found out that the MRD results were negative and Emilie was cancer free!!!! PRAISE GOD!! A huge load immediately fell off my shoulders and I felt as if I could live again. Weird, I know, but that was my feeling at the time. The past couple of weeks have been very hard for me and everyone in our family as we anticipated her bone marrow aspirate. Nervous, grumpy, anxious.... I had to remind myself daily that the God who has sustained us for the last 2 years was STILL IN CONTROL. Emilie, on the other hand, didn't need reminding. After thanking God for the good results, Emilie said she didn't know why we were so excited about her bone marrow results and that we should be more excited about her being off of isolation. We explained that while being "free" was great in that it meant that her immune system is working well, but having no cancer in her marrow was even more important. She responded by telling us that she wasn't worried AT ALL because she knew that the cancer was ALREADY gone. The night before her procedure, I couldn't sleep and Emilie couldn't sleep. I thought, great, we are in for a rough wake up to make it to the hospital by 7 a.m. At 4:30 a.m. I went into Emilie's room to wake her up, but she was already awake. Not just awake, but chatty and happy. What?? Emilie is not a morning person and her "we're going to Disneyland" wake up was odd. She knew. She trusted. She hoped. What a wonderful faith Emilie has...faith of a child...that she believes God for all the good things that He desires to give her.
