As of today, Adrian is officially in Maintenance! Hooray!! He will spend the next 2 years and 9 months in this phase, and we expect him to complete treatment in August 2012. This is a relief as our lives should get somewhat easier with AJ on a much less intense chemotherapy regimen. While 2012 seems a long way off, for us it is like the light at the end of a tunnel. Maintenance is broken up into 3-month intervals during each of which AJ will get 1 spinal tap, 3 monthly doses of IV chemo, monthly pulses of steroids and daily pills. Our doctor appointments will now become less frequent. We’ll go back in 2 weeks to see if his chemo doses need adjustment, then another 2 weeks, then after that we move to monthly.
The odds are stacked in AJ’s favor. While it is possible that at any given time he could relapse, the longer he goes without any sign of leukemia, the less likely this is. Once we get a year past Maintenance, the chances of this happening becomes very small. At 5-years post treatment he will be considered “cured.”
AJ has the green light to return to school when we wish. His blood counts have come up (ANC was 2880 today). We will likely wait about a month before he goes back to pre-school to make sure his blood counts are stable and to allow his hair to start growing back.
We are overjoyed and thankful to have this good news as we head into 2010. As we get further into Maintenance in the coming weeks we will continue to keep everyone updated. Thanks again for all of the positive thoughts and support.
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