Day 458: Over the Hump Day!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - I was floored when we first found out that Mady's chemo treatment for leukemia would last for 2 1/2 years. Then I learned from Dr. Friedmann that this duration offers the highest chances for complete cancer remission, based on decades of studies.

In the early days of pediatric leukemia protocol, when no leukemia cells could be found in the patient's blood after a few weeks--treatment would end. Unfortunately, one or more undetectable surviving cancer cells would often allow the disease to return with a vengeance. Over the years, doctors increased the duration of the protocol, with great success. 2 1/2 years of treatment turned out to be the magic number, returning a 70 - 80% cure rate. They tried even longer durations, up to 7 or 10 years, but these did not increase the cure rate beyond the 2 1/2 year plateau.

So, 2 1/2 years it is.

And why is today Hump Day (besides being Wednesday)? Well... today, 458 days after her original cancer diagnosis, Mady is officially half-way through the 2 1/2 year protocol. Barring any complications that temporarily suspend her treatment, Mady will take her last pill 458 days from today. We're on the downward side of the hump! Woohoo!

Thanks for sticking with us Family and Friends... we couldn't do it without you!