Chemo Round 3... Not Just Yet, We Have a Party to Plan!

Jade walked into the hospital today like she owned the placed. Waving and saying hi to everyone.  Asking anybody who would listen for bubbles. Jumping on the first bike she saw and heading down the familiar halls. Aside from the little peach fuzz that covers her head and the central line, which was barely visible under today's outfit, you'd never know that this little ball of energy was waging an internal battle against leukemia.

Overall, the check-up went off without a hitch.  Her ANC is climbing, but wasn't high enough to perform the bone marrow biopsy or spinal tap.  (I'm taking that as good news because it means that we'll have at least another week at home with Jade!)  She is now scheduled for the biopsy on April 10th and for readmission on April 12th to begin Round 3.  Our prayer is that the bone marrow biopsy will show that the chemotherapy has been successful in continuing to keep Jade's marrow free of leukemia cells.

The doctors also gave us an overview of Round 3, or the beginning of the "intensification" rounds. Five day course of chemo (as opposed to the ten and eight day courses in Rounds 1 and 2). Three to four week recovery period. Higher doses of chemo drugs. Traditional eye drops and steroid eye drops every three hours.  A sleepless round, in other words, but necessary. Something like 90% of patients have a recurrence of AML within weeks or months if no further treatment is given beyond Round 2...

In the meantime, Shameika and I are figuring out how to transform my home into Pixie Hollow so Jade can celebrate her birthday as a fairy with her family (a lot of contact with a lot of people, especially children, is still not advisable at this point). I passed on a "birthday blow-out" for Jade's first birthday because I didn't think she needed it. Well, now we all need this celebration... so, bring it on.

"All you need is faith, trust, and a little bit of Pixie Dust." ~ Tinkerbell