Start of Interim Maintenance

This past Friday marked the end of Consolidation and the beginning of a new phase called Interim Maintenance. It will last about 50 days and is what Dave and I like to call the calm before the storm. While it consists of higher doses of oral chemo at home, her treatments at the doctor's office will be more spread out (although we will continue to go every week for blood counts to determine her ability to take her weekly dose of methotrexate at home).

Catherine started a five day course of the steroids this weekend, which she will do every four weeks for the remaining 2 years. It is amazing how after just one dose her appetite kicked in (the egg sandwiches are back!) and the steroid tantrum reared its ugly face. While I was dreading the start of the steroids, I was thrilled to see Catherine eat again as she has lost more weight than she gained when on them originally. That said I have come to the conclusion that the monthly steroids are for beefing patients up during the course of their treatment.

As the doctors promised, our lives have settled into a new routine and Catherine seems to view her condition as normal. Apparently, she is flashing her port to her teachers and friends, telling them that is where the doctors put her medicine. She LOVES her doctors and talks about them constantly. And, at her request, we read a book called Kathy's Hats which is about a little girl with cancer. A couple of weeks ago I was both alarmed and comforted when Catherine pretended to take blood from a baby doll's "port". Dr. Elisha thought this was great and that her behavior was a healthy acceptance of her condition.

As I wrote earlier, Interim Maintenance is the calm before the storm. When it ends, we will start Delayed Intensification. Basically, it will be an incredible amount of chemo and we will be making a lot of trips to Guilford, as much as 5 times a week. But that's not now, and we've learned that we just have to take everything one day at a time.