Monday, July 14, 2008

Changes in Treatment

Tomorrow is the the final Dr's. visit for a couple of weeks. Jake will be getting an IV push of some chemo treatment as well as some blood drawn for testing. After tomorrow, we will be starting the next phase of treatment. Consolidation is the title of this next phase. The purpose of this phase is to kill off any of the leukemia cells that may be hiding. The medications that he will be receiving will likely be the same as the ones he has been taking for the last couple of months. The biggest difference will be the schedule of these meds. They will be adjusting the doses of these so that he receives some of the meds for 1-5 day stints a couple of times throughout this stage. This stage typically lasts 1-3 months.

In talking with the doctor last week, it sounds like they are going to want to have Jake go through another phase of induction in the fall. This will likely come just after school starts for him. We have not talked about this with him yet, mainly because I am not sure we truly understand what that will entail for him.


Because of the changes coming up in his treatment, the Dr is expecting his immunity to take a dip again. To help make sure we don't miss our chance, we are all going to Elich Gardens. For those of you out in MN, it is the equivalent of Valley Fair. The library that the boys go to had an incentive plan where if a child read 12 hours, they could submit a completed form to receive a ticket for free admission. Since we may not be healthy enough to get their later this year, we felt it was best to sneak our trip in now.

We'll try and post some stats from tomorrow.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck to all of you this a.m. Jake I'm wearing my bracelet and thinking about you a LOT!! Have a good Dr's visit, stay healthy, and we will see you in one month!!

Love, Hugs, Kisses,
Grandma Dee

The McShane Family said...

Sounds like fun! I know my kids would love that trip....not sure it is going to happen for us this summer.

Keep us posted!

I am praying for all of you! I too wear my bracelet every day and pray for you Jake.....

ps: Dominic had his bone marrow transplant and so far is doing well. They are waiting for him to crash (this is expected), but so far it hasn't happened. Please keep praying for Dom.....