Two weeks ago, Elliot’s counts were high enough to begin Interim Maintenance One (a total of 64 days). This phase kicked off with a lumbar puncture for chemo in his spinal fluid. When they gave him the propofol, he started giggling and laughing when he received the sedation. Not for long of course—he was asleep in a few seconds. After the LP we were admitted to the hospital where they gave him a dose of Vincristine (IV push) and started him up on IV fluids. Tuesday evening they started the high-dose Methotrexate. It infused over 24 hours. Then they continued IV fluids and gave him Leukovorin every 6 hours. This is a “rescue drug” that rescues his normal cells from the effects of the Methotrexate. While giving the Leukovorin they continued to check Methotrexate levels in the blood to ensure it was being eliminated. Thankfully, his body did not have any problems eliminating the Methotrexate and, on Friday (8/5) his level dropped low enough to send him home.
Elliot did not eat well in the hospital and that continued when we went home for about a week. He had some nausea from the chemo and threw up a couple times. In addition, on Sunday after we got home we noticed a couple mouth sores (a common side effect of the Methotrexate). The doctor gave us a prescription (magic mouthwash) that was supposed to help with the mouth sores, but getting a 2 year-old to swish mouthwash is impossible! Fortunately, the mouth sores cleared up on their own, and he has been eating better and feeling better for about 5 days now….just in time to get some more Methotrexate tomorrow :(. Tomorrow, he will be admitted for the 2nd (of 4 in this phase) high-dose Methtrexate. If all goes as planned, will be there from Tuesday morning through Friday evening. It will be another long week in the hospital!
Elliot’s counts were high enough this past Sunday for us to all attend church together. This was the first time we have been to church together and Elliot has been at all since the beginning of April. It was such a blessing to be able to all be together to worship our Savior with our church family! We are so grateful to be part of such a wonderful group of believers.
