Mireya had a great appointment this past week. Her counts are soaring and holding beautifully. The best news during that appointment was the results of her chimerism test. The chimerism testing gives us a specific picture of the cellular composition of the body. For many months Mireya's was between 30-40 (higher than we were comfortable with) and then sitting consistently in the low 20's. We had come to the realization that perhaps the mix of her cells and Jalen's cells would just co-exist and stay around this point. The latest test showed that Reya's cells were 'undetectable' *praise break*. The Head of Peds/Hemoc said when she saw those results pop up on the screen she was 'speechless'. This was a greater outcome than she expected for Mireya!!!!! So to quickly put this in perspective, if you recall when Mireya was taken off her immunosuppression meds following her first transplant, there was a small percentage of her own cells that remained in her body which were not destroyed by the chemotherapy. Those cells re-emerged with a vengeance and started destroying all the cells in her body, resulting in the dire need for another transplant (thank you Lord for Jalen!) Those cells no longer EXIST in her body. This is what we've prayed, trusted and believed God for. The child with the issue of blood...totally and completely healed. God is so faithful!!!! ALL things are possible for them that love the Lord. Don't give up hope!
We could not have gotten to this point or place without the love, support and hearts of many....for that we are eternally grateful. There is no one I could have walked with or made it through this journey with, other than Quentin. Support, love, tears, laughter (to keep from more tears), a covering. We drew strength from each other, we stood 'together' in faith, we prayed long and hard 'with' one another and 'for' each other through it all. Our faith has increased to another level and we've personally been touched by the power and unity of people (family, friends, church family) and community. Thank you for standing with us, for following our plight, for all that you've done to lift our burdens and to add joy and happiness along the way (this blog has been viewed and shared among 57 different countries)....simply amazing. We are inspired and extremely proud of the strength of our children (those little lives we fought so hard and endured so much to bring into this world). We continue to pray and trust God with all he has for each of them....our blessings....our gifts.
Our dreams are big, our future is bright, our desire to serve and bless others has continued to grow. God knows our hearts. So now we recover, we reflect, we revisit all the things we've desired to do that have been placed on hold and we start filtering those things back into our lives. Simple pleasures to enjoy and some long awaited things to plan for. Mireya is super excited to finally get to do something she has not been able to do for over two years. She received the clearance to go swimming, so this summer...IT"S ON!!!! We will return to clinic in about month or so for our one year visit and exam. This will include some extensive testing that will provide the necessary benchmarks as we transition into the maintenance phase of treatment.
Words cannot express our happiness, appreciation or thankfulness. Thank you for walking with us, thank you for trusting with us, thank you for praying with us and believing with and for us.
Matthew 10:27 What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ear, shout from the housetops for all to hear.
We made a decision to trust the word of God, despite what it 'looked' like or 'felt' like. Our faith reassured us that Mireya's health would be restored and after almost two and a half years of a life in limbo I'm shouting *in my loudest voice ever* GOD IS SO AMAZINGLY AWESOME (yes all caps is appropriate here)!!!
