Day 28 bone marrow biopsy - remission

Dale is officially in remission. His last biopsy was negative. The orginal plan was to do another month of chemo before the transplant but the doctors decided to go with it now since he is so strong . Derek is the donor and has already started his
pre-donor testing. Derek spent 6 hours at UCLA this past Friday. He bravely gave 8 tubes of blood , a cup of urine and took his shirt off to take an x-ray and EKG. For those of you who don't know Derek, he is alittle shy about taking off his shirt because of his slightly chubby profile. The staff at UCLA made Derek feel very special about this gift he will be giving to Dale because he is the only one that can give it to him. If all his tests clear, the anticipated admission date for Dale is Feb. 4th. He is to have surgery on Feb. 2nd for his central line placement. Dale will receive 3 days of radiation (2/5- 2/7) followed by 3 days of chemotherapy. He gets to rest one day on the 11th and the transplant will take place on 2/12. Derek will be admitted that morning and stay until Tuesday. The doctors said Dale and Derek could room together as long as neither of them were sick. From there, it could be 1-3 months before he gets to come home.
Dale will also receive 3 days of head radiation prior to his admission. This is sceduled for 1/29 - 1/31.
A lot will take place over the next 2 weeks. Please continue to pray for the strength and courage both Dale and Derek will
need to get through this. (And Danny too, he's trying his best to keep his busy schedule and spend time with Dale. I often wonder what's going through his teenage mind as we all go through this.)
Dale is at baseball practice today. He is happy to be back in remission and is eating constantly.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers. It is what we need most.