Day 116 - Approaching challenges

     This morning Evan went to the clinic for his last session of chemotherapy for this round.  The medical team made some last minute adjustments to his dosages because of the difficulty walking that he's still experiencing.  The Vincristine causes foot drop and this is impacting his recovery.  In addition to that we learned the schedule for the next round, Delayed Intensification.

These early morning appointments are for the birds

     In short, chemotherapy is designed to wipe out the cancer cells and eliminate all cells in his bone marrow with the intent of it re-learning and creating healthy cells again.  During the first phase, Induction, the goal is to kill enough cancer cells in hopes of putting the patient into remission.  The next two subsequent phases are to "reset" the bone marrow and don't actually kill newly formed cancer cells.  If I had to describe our new phase, Delayed Intensification, it would be a collapsing of the first three phases into 60 days.
     Evan will go back on steroids again, but not for the same duration that he had to before.  He'll follow that with seven other drugs administered at different dosages and frequencies than he's had before.  This phase is meant to eradicate any remaining dormant cells, wherever they may hide.  There will be two spinal taps to ensure there aren't any cancer cells hiding in his spinal fluid.  Once DI begins Evan's body will be extremely compromised so Cristy and I will need to be very diligent with his care.  The actual start date hasn't been confirmed, as it will be dictated by his blood counts, but 10 - 14 days is a realistic expectation.

Working on calories in the form of frozen yogurt

      The blood counts from today looked promising and it shows that his body is creating cells like it should.  We're also fortunate that the PICC occlusion worked itself out over the weekend.  This gives us two working ports for the near future.
     Over the next 60 days I'll share specifics about Evan's plan, but in the meantime I need to do reading on the new drugs being introduced.  There will be different side effects for us to contend with and we'll need to try and help alleviate symptoms as they occur.  I have a feeling we're in for some unique challenges, but we're prepared to confront them together.