Evan and I had a long day out today. We headed to the clinic early this morning, and started the day with a spinal tap. This was followed by a dose of Vincristine and IVIG (immuno globulins). We were told to stop the "bridge" chemo we've been doing, the daily 6MP and weekly Methotrexate, as we will be moving forward next week.
 |
| Waking up to a prize post spinal tap. |
In November, Evan was in the "Delayed Intensification" (DI) portion of his chemo plan. He was scheduled to start the most toxic drugs of this phase on the Monday before Thanksgiving. However, this was the day I noticed his ankle was swollen, and the harsh chemo was put on hold until after his latest surgery and after his body had a chance to heal. There was a possibility we might skip the rest of this phase all together, as these drugs will significantly drop his blood counts. After many discussions, the oncologists' gut feelings were to pick back up where we left off and continue as planned.
Evan is scheduled to go back to the clinic on Tuesday of next week to re-start the second half of DI. This will be an all-day event, as his Cytoxin infusion will take around six hours. He will also start Cytarabine (given by injection for four days, three days off, then four more days), and daily Thioguanine for two weeks. I was told this month of DI is when we will most likely end up in the hospital for fevers and neutropenia (low neutrophil counts). So while we were originally looking for things to get easier after Christmas, our new goal is to make it to Valentine's Day relatively unscathed.
 |
| Latest blood counts. |
Evan then had a follow-up visit with the orthopedic surgeon this afternoon. We were hoping to receive a thumbs-up for Evan to put weight on his right ankle. They took an X-ray of his ankle, and the surgeon said his bone has not healed enough yet, and needs to stay off of it for a while longer. We will go back in four more weeks to check it again. This was really disappointing news, as we were hoping to get Evan back on his feet. He's been so active and raring to go, and his incision has healed well, but his bones still need more time.
Evan has a rough patch coming up, but Blaine and I will do our best to help him through it and get to long-term maintenance. Evan's attitude towards his treatments lately has been great, and he has definitely been back to his old playful self. We just need to keep him hopping along until his ankle and body are both strong again,
No comments:
Post a Comment