Hopefully Only A 1 Week Delay

After last Monday's delay (which is fairly typical), Catherine was taken off all her meds to allow her bone marrow and counts to recover before starting the next phase of treatment. Catherine and I returned to the doctor on Friday to perform blood tests primarily to check her platelet count while Theresa spent the day with Alex. Last Monday Catherine's platelets were only 76,000 (75,000 are needed to start the next phase) so the doctors wanted to check them again on Friday to make sure her body was ready to handle the treatments. I am happy to report Catherine's platelets jumped to over 90,000 while her ANC jumped to around 800 (up from 360 on Monday) so if all goes well this weekend and her counts are stable Monday morning, Catherine will begin the next phase.

During the next phase, Catherine is scheduled to have a lumbar puncture with methotrexate, the first of 8 doses of ARA-C, and her one and only dose of Cytoxan on Monday. She will also start a 2 week course of 6-TG at home (it is similar to 6-MP). Catherine will also receive ARA-C on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this upcoming week.

As an aside, as Catherine has been weaned from her meds this week it is amazing to see her energy levels increase and personality re-emerge. We often forget the powerful impact of the medicine Catherine takes every day. Each day without medicine, Catherine feels stronger and stronger. Her strength has improved to the point where I took Catherine and Alex to the playground, played hide and seek outside for an hour, took walks around the block and even convinced Catherine to ride her bike this week. I can't remember the last time she rode her bike. Uncle Joe, Aunt Valerie, Vincent and Joseph also came to visit on Saturday. Catherine ran around like a mad woman with her cousins playing soccer, (like Zindane and his bald head) baseball and volleyball.

Below is the latest picture of Catherine and her new Dora backpack.