Sometimes it’s crazy to me how quickly things are moving, and other times it feels like things are dragging. Brynna just finished her last chemo cycle (Consolidation) and we are waiting on her counts to jump back up before we begin the next phase, called Interim Maintenance. (I made a handy little roadmap below to show you the VERY approximate timing of everything. Basically, after Induction (the first month), and before Maintenance, every cycle is 2 months long. In between each cycle is at least a week, as she always has to make counts before the next cycle starts…this means that her bone marrow has to recover enough on its own, before it’s shot down yet again. Her ANC (that neutraphil number I talk a lot about, the one that fights infection) is generally at zero during a good chunk of her treatment. This has to be up to at least 750 before she can start the next cycle, and her platelets have to be at 75. Each body and each cycle is totally different when it comes to recovery time, so after some cycles she may make counts within a week, and with others, it may take 2 weeks. There’s really no way of knowing! Also, any hospitalizations, sicknesses, etc. could cause delays through this whole process, so everything is a HUGE estimation.

This next cycle is kind of a doozy. From what we’ve been told, the actual drugs she’s getting this time are not quite as intense as the cycle she just finished, BUT they do require inpatient treatment, meaning we are looking at 4, 4-5 day hospital stays over the next 8 weeks. On the day she is admitted, she will receive 24 hours of her drip chemo through an IV line (into her port, she is never poked in the arm anymore, praise the Lord!!!). After that, they have to diligently watch her to ensure her body is maintaining the correct pH balance, and her body has to pass the drug prior to being released. The typical time is anywhere between 3-5 days, and this can differ with each stay. At some point during the stay, they give her a “rescue” drug, that (from my extremely limited knowledge), goes in and “rescues” the good cells. I guess there are certain chemo drugs that have “rescue” drugs that work, and this is one of them. Apparently the medicine goes in and brings back the good cells, but the cancer cells aren’t attracted to it (or don’t stick to it, or something like that), which is pretty cool to me! Once she passes all of the chemo drug, she will be discharged.

The GOOD thing about this cycle is that, although it involves hospitalizations every other week, the in between weeks should (HOPEFULLY) be calmer. The first in between week (and maybe the 2nd, just depending), we will probably have 1 trip to clinic to check her labs, but this cycle shouldn’t really knock her down enough to need transfusions or platelets, which would be huge!! And we may even be able to have a full 10 days (or so), without ANY trips to clinic. Guys, you have no idea how exciting that sounds haha. I’m trying to not get my hopes up in that area, because there is always something that could happen, or something that could just land us in the hospital on those off weeks, but we’re heading in hopeful and prayerful for a pretty uneventful next couple of months. 🙂

Also, if anyone has any tips/ideas/suggestions on how to keep a 2 year old entertained in a hospital, we’d welcome them! 🙂 She’s very active at home, and obviously she enjoys walking when we’re at the hospital, but after hours of walking the halls, it does get a little old. 😉 They do have a nice little outdoor area we can go, but she’ll be hooked up to an IV so she won’t be able to do the slide, or anything like that…but we’re thankful for the beautiful spot to enjoy some fresh air while there!

So, all this to say, we go in on Thursday to check her counts and see if we get started. Oh! I should also add that the first 2 admission days, she will also get a lumbar puncture, and the first admission day, they will also do the bone marrow (MRD) testing to ensure that there is still 0 cancer cells in her body. We would LOVE prayer for this!!!!! It’s a little weird thinking that on Thursday, we could be there for an hour, or for 5 days. 🙂 I’m glad we live semi-close so we don’t have to fully pack for a 5 day stay! If she doesn’t make counts, we will most likely wait until the following Thursday. We could go in on Monday to check, but Ben and I feel that having her hospital stay over a weekend works so much better with his schedule and work. My dad and Ben will alternate nights again, and I’ll handle the days while my mom takes on (probably the hardest job) of watching the 2 boys. 🙂 It’s a team effort, with SO many others offering and assisting and helping as well. We couldn’t do this on our own, and we are BEYOND grateful for the community around us!! But that’s a blog post for another day. 😉 We’ll keep you posted on what Thursday holds! I’d say it’s a total 50/50 chance if we start this week or next. This past Thursday, her ANC was completely bottomed out at 0, but her platelets were on the up and up at 49. The ANC has a long ways to go, but it can be done.