Start of Long Term Maintenance Delayed

On Tuesday, Catherine, Alex and I drove up to Guilford for a finger stick test just to check Catherine's counts. All her numbers were great with her hemoglobin making a nice recovery over the weekend. Her ANC was 1280 so Dr. Elisha felt that for sure we'd be good to go on Friday for the start of Maintenance, where, as usual , the parameters to start are an ANC of 750 and platelets of 75,000. Imagine my surprise when on Friday Dr. Joe came in with her counts and said we were a no-go. I really thought he was talking about another patient and was stunned when he confirmed that it was Catherine. Her ANC had dropped to 656 (her platelets were a strong 199,000). In his mind this isn't considered a true delay, just her body still recovering from Delayed Intensification. So we will try again next Friday.
On the plus side, this means Catherine's first week of school will be sans steroids and all other meds. She is so excited to start so in a way I am glad that it won't be hindered by the side effects of Vincristine. I met with Catherine's teachers and the new mothers last week at a parent coffee. I was happy to hear that her new teacher is herself a cancer survivor and understands first hand the things we need to watch out for (i.e. germs).
Not to be left out, Alex started school this past week (a 2's program). The pandemonium of a group of crying 2 year olds being left alone for the first time seemed to leave Alex wondering what the heck was going on. But, he just went off with his teacher who said that after observing the goings on in a corner by himself for a bit, ended up having a great day. He was so excited to see me and Catherine when we picked him up and I felt like he sort of grew up a little in the three hours that he was there.
This week should be interesting with both kids in school. Hopefully it will end with the start of Maintenance.