What the...

They went down! Those damn neutrophils actually went down. Even Hayden's doctor seemed surprised...so rather than starting the Interim Maintenance phase, we're going in tomorrow for a bone marrow test. His blood work indicates that Hayden is simply recovering from the last treatment phase but Dr. Stoffman wants to see what's going on in the marrow and make sure that the leukemia is not on a come-back streak.

Hayden's weight is up again - more than 1 kg. It's good for him to start the next round of chemo with a healthy body so there is an upside to this delay. Plus, Hayden is totally happy to sit on the sidelines for a while, and it's nice to see him happy. I'm collecting mental pictures to get through the not-so-happy times. Perhaps I should describe those in a future post so someone can remind me about this sweet little kid later when I'm dodging puke pans. Thankfully, I have some time because steroids don't enter back into the picture until the Delayed Intensification phase (after the next one).

So disappointing results from today's clinic visit but it's hard to take it badly when, upon leaving, Hayden remarks that it was just like a play date for him (he's met some terrific friends there!). He's also very comfortable in the pediatric day unit, so tomorrow will be a breeze too. Not sure when we'll get the bone marrow results but I'll post them as soon as I can.