Posts made in February, 2012

We received more great news at our clinic appointment yesterday. First, Ethan gained more than four pounds in the last week. It goes against my mother sensibilities to be rejoicing over that but we are just so thankful for a buffer in his weight in case he goes through a rough patch in the near future. Next, his white blood cell counts are rebounding rapidly. Last Thursday they were “critical” at 0.5, yesterday they were 2.4; his ANC (immunity) has gone from 150 to 1560. His platelets are also increasing (from 62 to 148 in one week). All of this means that we should be able to continue to the next phase of treatment without delay. Speaking of which, next Thursday is the end of induction. I feel so relieved that Ethan has come through this phase with...

We had wonderful lab results on Monday. Ethan’s ANC rose to a safer level allowing him to be a bit more social. We had friends over and went out to dinner and that has lifted his spirits considerably. His platelets and white blood cell counts have also bumped up a bit. So far he hasn’t had more than a mild (99.4) fever since we’ve been home from the hospital. Overall I would say that considering he is having toxic chemicals infused once a week, he is doing great! The hardest part right now is keeping him fed. The boy wants meat. From 9am to 9pm…. meat, meat, meat. Not just a hot dog but steak, crab, fried chicken, etc. It’s pretty difficult to keep up with his appetite and I’m ever so grateful that my mother is here. On March...

Now that we have an idea of Ethan’s response to treatment it becomes easier to predict the full course of his care. For rapid early responders with high risk ALL, they break down the treatment down like this: Induction (4 weeks): 95% of kids achieve remission by the end of induction.Drugs used: prednisone, vincristine, daunomycin, PEG-asparaginase, cytarabine, methotrexate. Consolidation (9 weeks): cyclophosphamide, 6-mercaptopurine, cytarabine, vincristine, PEG-asparaginase, methotrexate. Interim Maintenance (8 weeks): methotrexate, vincristine, PEG-asparaginase, methotrexate. Delayed Intesification #1 (4 weeks): dexamethasone, vincristine, doxorubicin, PEG-asparaginase, methotrexate. Delayed Instesification #2 (4 weeks): cyclophosphamide, 6-thioguanine,...