Wednesday 10th March 2010

Yeah!!!! Good news. Luke is in remission.
The interim report we were given a copy of today says: "Normocellular bone marrow. Features are consistent with remission of the known Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia and with an excellent response to recent treatment. Note normal karyotype. No cytogenetic abnormality detected."

Luke also had a follow up CT scan last week. The results of this showed that his lymph nodes have improved significantly. The lymph node under the armpit has decreased from 18mm to 7mm. His hepatosplenomegaly (which is enlargement of the liver and spleen) has also significantly improved. The liver now measures 17cm and the spleen 12cm reduced from 21 and 20cm respectively. Also something that I didn't know until his discharge papers turned up at home yesterday, was that his kidneys had lesions/multiple large soft tissue deposits on both kidneys. However on the latest test these had significantly reduced in number and size.

So good news all round at this stage. Whilst this is the best outcome possible at this point there is still a long way to go. The problem now will be keeping him in remission. We are now back in hospital today to start the 2nd round of chemo treatment - consolidation - which will be a 9 week program. We have not been able to see the specialist today and my main concern was whether we should be starting chemo now or waiting till after our appointment in Sydney on the 25th March with the stem cell transplant specialist. Unfortunately I didn't get this question totally confirmed but both the resident and intern agreed that Dipti was going to contact Sydney and that she confirmed yesterday afternoon that she wanted chemo to commence today.
So here we are - back in our old room 7 for old times sakes. We are not sure whether Luke will only need to stay overnight or for 2 nights depending on how long things take. One of the drugs he is on today is quite strong and he needs to have 3 bags of saline to flush through his system (these take about 8 hours each to run through).

For anyone interested the consolidation phase of chemo will include the following drugs: cyclophosphamide, cytarabine, mercaptopurine, methotrexate, L-asparaginase and vincristine.
This will mean between 4-5 visits to the hospital per week to receive the chemo.

Luke's had a few good days at home and has had a bit more energy. It was my birthday yesterday and the four of us went out to dinner. Murray and I discovered a Malaysian restaurant at the Garran shops that was really yummy - so we went there. Had a really nice meal.
The day before we'd had all the family over for lunch. Luke and I had a cook up in the kitchen and we all had a good day.