2nd week of delayed intensification

Luke continues to do well. He is receiving his 2nd dose of iv doxorubicin along with his iv vincristine. No spinal tap today, but he will have one in 2 weeks. The doctor says he looks wonderful and is responding well. He had oral steroids last week and will stop this week, then restart next week

October 12, 2010 - Luke handling 'Delayed Intensification' well thus far

By God's Grace, our Luke is doing well. He has tolerated a new IV chemo (last week), and 2 IM injections (yesterday). He's in good spirits, energetic, eating and drinking well, and gives thanks/prays to God (even though he refuses to pray at the end of the video below:) ).



Here's Luke and his Philly Grandma and Grandpa eating at a buffet restaurant.

Delayed Intensification

Today, October 6th, marks Luke's 121st day since chemotherapy started. By God's Grace, we have all been doing well, especially Luke. Today, Luke begins a phase called 'delayed intensification', which is expected to be the toughest 3 months for him. He will receive meds by mouth, in his thigh muscle, in his vein, and in his backbone today. Also, they say it is not uncommon that kids wake up the next day with no hair. We pray that he responds well to his new medicines.

Allergy Testing

Luke had to go through testing to see which antibiotics he is allergic to, so they can find the ones he can use if he ever has a need to be treated. Since his leukemia and diminished immunity can lead to infections, knowing which antibiotics to useis important. The testing involves "scratching" the skin with various antibiotics, followed by intradermal injections. Luke did cry and was saddened during the test, but came through ok. We're waiting for the results as this blog posting is being written. Thanks to God for giving us all strength and courage. We all need it. It hurts us to see him having to endure all of this. We pray for him.

September 28th - Update

By God's Grace, Luke continues to be ok. We had a slight concern a week ago when he appeared to have some type of allergic reaction all over his body. It could be the Bactrim (antibiotic) he has been taking, but we are praying that this is not the case. We did give him 6 more doses of Bactrim this past weekend, and he did not have a reaction. Outside of the Bactrim, we couldn't think of many other "different things" he was exposed to (there were a few).

Today, we have 2 appointments for Luke. One is with an allergy doctor. There they will probably inject various things into his arm to test for allergic responses. The other appointment is a pill swallowing class. We hope that he can learn to swallow the numerous pills he will need to take over the course of the next 3 years, because the liquid medications are not tasty.

We are sad that Luke has to go through all of this, but pray for his strength, courage, will, and spirit. Also, we pray for our well-being through all of this.

Faith and Healing (Sept 23)

Luke has faith :)
We continue to hope and pray for Luke and his well-being. In about a week, Luke will enter into "delayed intensification". He will be exposed to a couple of new medicines, and we hope he responds well. The nurse practitioner has already made us aware that, in all likelihood, his hair will fall out during this period. This will be a visual reminder to us that we need to continue to remain steadfast in Faith. Hair falling out is cosmetic, if anything, but obviously, it is alarming to see. What is more concerning is that we can expect that Luke will be house-ridden during October and November, due to diminished immunity (due to the effects of the chemo).

100 Days

Yesterday marked Luke's 100th day of chemo. We are thankful that he has tolerated everything well, thusfar. It has been difficult for our family, but God has been faithful. We continue to hope and pray that Luke is healed completely, and that his leukemia NEVER COMES BACK!