End of Chemo

Madeline's protocol did not change from what she was assigned as a high risk leukemia patient in the beginning of her protocol. Due to the amount of leukemia cells and her age (over 10) she was placed in a high risk category. We were told that her protocol would be 2 1/2 years. I think we took that number literally, but in looking over the information, the number is actually 2 years from the start of Interim Maintenance.

IM follows Induction Therapy and Consolidation. Induction Therapy was the 4 week period when she was first in the hospital that brought her counts into remission, and Consolidation was the 57 day protocol following. There is a rest period between the different phases. I was worried that her body required a large rest period between Induction and Consolidation (and every phase transition following), but it was within the normal range even though it was greater than the 7 day allowance shown in the protocol. Madeline required 2, sometimes 3 weeks for her body to bounce back and produce the requisite 750 white blood cell marker to allow her to move into the next phase. And this is still all within the normal range for her protocol, something I did not understand at the time, but was told by her physician.

The start of Interim Maintenance could have been at the earliest, 100 days from the start of her induction (including the (2) 7 day rest periods between phases) or about 14 weeks. Madeline took an extra 3 weeks, so her start of Interim Maintenance was January 10, 2008, and her end of chemo, even with breaks due to sickness (1-2 weeks) is January 10, 2010. She has her last LP next Thursday, and we will review this with her doctor one more time. xo ca