End of Induction Treatment Phase

It’s been an eventful week for us. Last Monday 5/16 was Elliot’s last day of steroids (for a while). It took a few days for the effects to wear off, but he finally started smiling and laughing towards the end of last week. It was and is so wonderful to see! It had been several weeks since we had seen any amount of happiness come from him. He still is having trouble moving. He can’t bear weight, walk, crawl, or roll over. He can sit, but if he falls over, he’s stuck. That is most likely still a side effect from the steroids, and he should regain his strength soon. His bald spots were getting worse, so we shaved off what we could of his hair this past Friday.

We got the results of Elliot’s bone marrow biopsy back on Monday 5/23. They run a precise lab test that tells the Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) remaining in his body (basically, the amount of leukemia cells remaining that are not detectable by normal blood work or under the microscope). Elliot has been classified as standard (or average) risk so far in the first phase of treatment (called the "induction" phase). Based on his blood counts, the doctors were pretty confident that his MRD would be good and he would continue standard risk. However, that was not the case. In order to stay standard risk, his MRD had to be below .01 percent and his was at .23 percent (yes, that is twenty-three times higher than it should have been). The strange thing was that at day 8 of his treatment, his MRD was below .01 percent. So sometime between day 8 and day 29, it multiplied. It appears that his body has not been as receptive the chemo as they would have liked. The doctors are puzzled about this, but thankfully our God is not! Because of his high MRD, he got bumped to the high risk category and his chemotherapy will intensify for the next phase (called the "consolidation", which lasts 57 days). We checked back into the hospital on Tuesday and spent one night for some more intense chemo, but came home today (Wednesday). We now begin chemo by mouth and by shot at home, and he will have chemo injected into his spinal fluid the next three weeks in a row.

The MRD lab test is a relatively new way of guiding leukemia treatment. The current thinking is that a higher number means higher likelihood of relapse. The goal is to intensify his treatment now in order to prevent relapse in the future.

We know that we have a lot of prayer warriors out there and we apreciate it more than you know! Here are some specific ways you can pray for us.

1. Full and complete healing for Elliot!!!


2. That his body would be responsive to higher intensity chemo, that it would kill all the leukemia cells in his body, and that he would have minimal short-term or long-term side effects from it.


3. That his mobility would return.
   


4. Peace and strength for us. As you can imagine, this whole thing is a roller coaster ride. This week's news was particulary discouraging for us.
   
   
   “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy” Psalm 103: 1-4