onward!

As we hoped, Jaxon passed his blood test on Tuesday last week, and we were able to start the next round of his treatment protocol. He needed a minimum of .75 ANC and he gave us .93! Platelets needed to be 75 and they're hovering nicely around 400.

Interim Maintenance 2 (IM2)
• IT (Intrathecal = into spinal fluid via sedated lumbar puncture) Methotrexate - Days 1 & 31.
These will be LP #s 10 and 11. Each time he gets IT chemo, a sample of his spinal fluid is collected and checked for leukemic cells. These have always come back clear.

• IV Vincristine & Methotrexate - Days 1, 11, 21, 31, 41

• Septra (oral tablet via jelly bean) 2x daily every Fri/Sat/Sun

IM2 is the final phase in his "frontline" treatment, before Long Term Maintenance begins in Mid-December. With the conclusion of Delayed Intensification, we hope and pray the most gruelling phases are now behind us. We must still be ever vigilant to watch for any signs that his body is not handling the chemo well, or for illness. Paul had a cold for well over a week, and it passed on to Max and Oma. Marty and Jax had a slight cold, but nothing too terrible. It hit me the past few days and I feel a bit run down but not suffering badly. I was worried about passing it on to Jaxon until I realized that he probably gave it to me! I'll call the clinic tomorrow and see if they want me to take any extra precautions, though I feel it's a non-issue as he would have already been exposed to my germs before I had any symptoms.

Nurse Clinician Anne, Dr. Ewa, Nurse Barb
"Checking chemo".  The chemo gets hand delivered from the pharmacy to the Oncology treatment room in that red tackle box. Then one nurse checks it with another nurse to confirm the patient's name, ID #, what the medicine is, how much medicine it is, when the medicine expires, and how
it is to be administered. If in agreement, the nurse presents the medicine to the Dr. prior to administering. The nurse also verifies all the same information with the parent/caregiver.

Super Jax strikes again!
Many thanks to Jaxon's friend Tatum and my friend Becky for this super cool, one of a kind toque! 

Speaking of super cool and one of a kind ...
Thanks so much to my Mama for making these!

And if matching fish hats isn't enough ...
We love our new cozy blankies! I have one too, each of us with a different colour. 

Funny boy ... he came out of his room about half an hour ago and we quickly realized he was still asleep! He didn't really answer our questions and seemed really dazed. He came to snuggle with me but started wimpering and giving obvious "have to pee" cues. I asked him if he had to and he nodded. I told him to go! He hopped down and went straight into the other bedroom. I redirected him and scooped him up onto the loo. On the way there and while he did the deed, he was giggling uncontrollably. I guess he thought it was pretty funny that he went to the bedroom, looking for the toilet. He declined any drinks of water and went straight back to bed.