Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Maintenance - 2nd Cycle


We have been in Maintenance for about 4 months now and are in the 2nd cycle. Each cycle of Maintenance is 12 weeks long, and consists of daily oral chemotherapy, monthly IV chemotherapy, monthly steroids (for 5 days) and two lumbar punctures with intrathecal chemo (chemo in spinal fluid—given during the LP). We still visit the cancer center weekly for lab work and once a month he gets his port accessed. This course gets repeated for a total of two years.

Elliot has generally been feeling good. We are thankful that he hasn’t been in the hospital since April! His counts have generally been high, so we can take him places and do normal things. We’ve done a few trips to the beach and traveled to Delaware and Pennsylvania to visit family this summer. His hair has grown back and his appetite is good. He has been active in playing with his sister, and recently learned to ride his “Thomas” trike. He still vomits occasionally (he asks for his Zofran every morning), and tells us he feels bad occasionally. The roughest part is the 5 days of steroids each month. These make him irritable and sleepless. Overall though, this has been much better and easier than the first year of treatment.

Two weeks ago his counts were the lowest they have been in Maintenance with an ANC of 341. Thankfully he didn’t catch any infection or spike a fever. We held on giving him any of his chemo drugs for 6 days, and now his counts are coming back up. We are thankful for God’s protection over our boy!

Family trip to Myrtle beach at end of May

Celebrating Elliot's 3rd birthday 


Riding his Thomas Trike

Trip to Hilton Head in August with sister Addie and cousin, Riley