Monday 17th May 2010

A very quick update to let you know that the bone marrow biopsy that was scheduled for today has been postponed. Luke's blood levels have not recovered quickly enough to warrant the biopsy today so they are allowing a bit more time. Luke is still neutropenic. I worked out the other day that Luke has been neutropenic for 75 days out of 108 days since he was diagnosed. Breaking that down even further: that's 30 days confined to the hospital upon diagnosis with 19 of those days in neutropenia, followed by 78 days at home with 44 days of hospital visits for various treatments; 56 of those days were in neutropenia! (Neutropenia means he is prone to pick up infections easily and not allowed in public places and needs to watch what he eats - for example: no salads or fresh vegetables - they need to be cooked thoroughly)

The biopsy will now be held on Monday 24th May. We should have the results about 3 days later.
His next round of chemo will probably start on Monday 31st May. This will be a 7 week Interim Maintenance chemo.

Although Luke's bloods haven't recovered totally he certainly has got some colour back and feeling a lot better. He must be feeling better because he's annoying his sister again!!!
It's nice for him to have a bit of a longer break as it will give him chance to do a bit of school work and catch up with friends.
I'll update you all again next week after the bone marrow biopsy.