Dom called me and told me they got back the results from Natalie's recent bone marrow test.
They are extremelly encouraging. Here is the background. When Natalie was first tested, her leukemia cells in her bone marrow were 50%. Part of the importance of Day 29, is that will be the next test to determine whether Natalie is a rapid responder and placed into a lower risk category or not.
Day 15 was the in between test and the results are... (imagine a drum roll here)
2%! Yes, they are down to 2%. This immediately puts her in the rapid responder category (she had to be below 5%). This is extremely good news and Dominicks voice on the phone sounded so encouraged. He sounded like someone had injected him with new life. Again, thanks be to God!
So after 2 weeks of treatment, things are looking great! But we are not out of the dark yet. We still have to get through Day 29. Hopefully with further treatment we will see the leukemia cells go to ZERO%.
So please continue to pray and thank you for all you have done so far! Thanks to those who have given money so generously. Especially those strangers who have never met the Orlandos, but showed the generosity of Christ. And thank you to all who have prayed, visited, thought, wept with, and loved this humble family. I know I can speak confidently for Dom and Dana that they do not feel alone.
Keep it up! Continue to pray for DAY 29 (Oct 1)
Sorry this news is a bit late, I was travelling and didn't have access to the computer.
Things have taken a turn for the better.
Dom called Wednesday and said that the doctors have cleared Natalie to eat. She had a CT scan sometime back and apparently it took some time to interperet. After reviewing it, they cleared Natalie to eat liquids on Tuesday, and Wednesday Natalie got to eat food! Yay. We have a happy little girl now! Thanks be to God for hearing our prayers.
Natalie is still not to happy about all the poking and proding, but at least her little belly is full.
I often assume many people know about Natalie's condition and the Orlando's fight. But this isn't always the case. I just ran into someone who didn't even know Natalie was diagnosed with Leukemia.
If you haven't already, spread the word about this site.
Anyone who knows the Orlandos, knows they desire prayer above anything else. Tell you friends, neighbors, churches, and groups.
You can get up to date information and leave messages for the Orlandos.
The more people who know, the more people can help, pray, encourage.
Thanks!
From Dom:
We are exploring further tests to see if the Intestinal wall is due to (Teflitious) the splitting of the intestinal wall because of trapped air. Tonight we are scheduled for a CAT Scan to explore deeper. We need her to be very still and cannot fully sedate her because of the rush (a doctor (anesthesiologist ?) will not be present). If all is good they may allow her to eat tonight but if not her white blood cell counts are at zero and it will be a long time before we can feed her.
Natalie is crying almost every moment. It is becoming madning. Then we feel guilty that we are mad at our daughter who we are starving. It really is emotionally brutal.
If Natalie moves during the 20 min scan we may have to redo tomorrow, under full anesthesia
We will probably hear tomorrow on the results of her day 15 lumbar puncture (spinal). This will determine more accurately if she will be a mid level - early responder.
Clarification on Natalie's condition and more:
from DOM--
Housing is good for now, don't have any idea when they are going to release us or ask for more time. My feeling is max 2 weeks more from now.
There is no obstruction since all the food in her system is passed - we are not feeding her except by IV nutrition (like my previous email reads)
Since her white cell count is low (what aids healing) and (Because of the chemo) the intestinal wall has not healed. There is no perforation (that means air would be spilling into her abdomen) which would be extreme pain and hard belly. Not feeding her is a precaution. Which makes it even harder. The paper thin wall is split in two with air trapped between it. When her White blood cells rise, it will heal rapidly.