The induction phase ends today

Today is the 29th day of treatment - hard to believe! So now what....well that depends on the results of the tests they did today. They'll use special biochemical techniques to measure the amount of leukemia remaining in the bone marrow (minimum residual disease - MRD). This measure is 1,000 times more sensitive than looking at the bone marrow with a microscope (we've already had good results on that test). Today's test will determine the next round of treatments - low MRD means a less intensive path (i.e., fewer and less toxic treatments). This is called the consolidation phase. A high MRD means that we do a re-induction phase, which may be similar to the one we just completed.

So far, Hayden's treatments have gone very well so we are very optimistic that he'll be moving on the consolidation phase (it would start Dec. 30). Hopefully, we'll get the test results on Tuesday.

One other big development for Hayden today - he got a port put in while he was asleep for the bone marrow. It's implanted just under the skin of the chest (we call it the Iron Man port) and has a tube that goes directly to his vein. This makes is easier to draw blood for the many CBC tests Hayden gets and to administer chemo, IV fluids, antibiotics (if needed - hopefully not!), and blood and platelet transfusions.

So it was a big day....not a great one for Hayden though. Tonight, we'll play Sponge Bob video games and continue to chill at home until his blood counts come up.