Back on Track

So we made the pilgrimage to Guilford on Monday to see if Catherine could go to school this week. Happy to say her ANC hit a whopping 576 and she was able to go to school and the end of the year picnic! She had a blast. The bone marrow she had last week, also showed that she is still leukemia free. That was a huge weight off my shoulders. Despite her counts being higher, Dr. Joe decided to keep her off everything until our normal appointment which was today.

Catherine was very excited about today's visit because she knew that she would likely get a special present since her birthday is coming up (May 29th!). Sure enough, everyone made a big deal about her birthday and it made the visit go so smoothly because Catherine was in a great mood. With her counts up all the chemo started back up today: a lumbar puncture with a dose of methotrexate into her spinal fluid, an IV dose of Vincristine, and then at home, 2 doses of steroids (the first day of a five day course), the 6-MP and oral methotrexate. That's a lot on any given day, but today it was so much harder because she has gone 3 weeks taking nothing. I have to say, Catherine had gotten so good at taking her meds, but I guess the break ruined our groove. I'm sure she'll get used to it again. When I mentioned to Dr. Elisha that Catherine would be on Day 4 of the steroids for her birthday, he jokingly replied, "At least you know she'll eat the cake." Strange the way we look at things now.