I have finished my Day 1 IV push of Vincristine, 2 hour push of Methotrexate, and 22 hour IV drip of Methotrexate. I have mostly finished Day 2 lumbar puncture with Methotrexate and 2 hour drip of Cytarabine. Still feeling pretty good. I have been trying to find other people my age with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, but 80% of cases occcur in kids ages 2-5 and the rest in adults over age 50. The chances of me having it at this age is so slim. Plus it is more common in males. So strange. I know you cant believe everything on the internet but this site had some interesting information on my cancer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_lymphoblastic_leukemia

Platelets finally made it!

I am officially checked in to UW Medical Center to receive my chemo therapy. My platelets were at 51 yesterday, and they have to be above 50 to start treatment. Barely made it ; ) I should be out within 4 days, as soon as the methatrexate is out of my system.

Christmas

I would like to thank everyone who helped make our Christmas special. Thank-you for all the warm wishes, food, gifts, support, lights, firetruck visit and decorations. We had a wonderful Christmas. These are pics of Loghan exploring the firetruck on Christmas Eve, putting up Christmas lights, and Loghan with Santa.

Trying again for next Wednesday...

I still did not have enough platelets to go into the hospital this week. (Darn, I wont be in over Christmas ; ) I did do an outpatient round of chemo and on Monday. I am going to have a lumbar puncture with Methatrexate chemo injection. I am also taking high doses of steroids to help keep cancer away and boost my platelets. It is nice that I am still doing something to make sure the cancer doesn't come back while waiting to get back in the hospital.

Waiting...

My platelets are still not high enough for chemo, so today I had a platelet transfusion instead of checking into the hospital. I will go back Monday for labs to see if I can check in Tuesday for chemo. This would mean me being in the hospital for Christmas. Bummer.

I was very dissapointed to learn yesterday that my platelets are still not high enough to start chemo. I will go back in Thurs and try for a Friday chemo start date. Dr. says I'm a bit of a mystery on why my count is taking so long to come back up. I just pray that it does not take this long between every round or I will be going through this much longer then I thought. I want to start this 4th round, then I will be officially past the halfway point.

Thursday

I went in Thursday to meet with Dr. Shustov. He said that my final bone marrow results show no leukemia cells. (and that it is a very sensitive test) This lessens the chance that I would need a bone marrow transplant. It also means that cancer is not the reason my blood numbers are not coming up. In the bone marrow I had a lot of immature cells, so soon these cells will be out in my blood and my counts will come up. I have a tentative date of Tuesday to start the next round of chemo. I received blood today, and will get platelets tomorrow. Monday I will have my counts checked and if everything is high enough I'll check into the hospital on Tuesday.

Blood Counts

The preliminary bone marrow biopsy shows no leukemia cells in the marrow. We are still waiting for the official results. I have an appointment Thursday on how to proceed because my platelets are still not high enough for chemo. I had to get platelets infused today. Trying to stay positive.

Delayed Again

My blood counts are still too low to go back in for chemo, so it is delayed again. I have no set date. Tomorrow, I'm going in for platelets and red blood cells. Monday I'm going in for a bone marrow biopsy to see why my blood counts are not coming up.

I had low platelets, so I went in and received some today. They look like stale beer. Luckily, it only takes about half an hour to get them. I appreciate all that donate platelets because I know it is quite the process. Also, got a call from SCCA and I may have to wait until next Monday to start chemo. Shortage of beds after holiday weekend.