So tomorrow, Friday, is one of the milestone days we have been preparing for since hearing about Elliott's diagnosis. Tomorrow, Elliott has a lumbar puncture and bone marrow analysis to determine how effective the chemotherapy treatment has been. The goal is for the results to show his leukemia is in remission. I know it seems early to say remission, but the ultimate goal of the induction phase (Days 1-28) is to achieve remission. Regardless of the outcome, he will still have to continue chemotherapy treatment, but it will help to determine the path for the next phase of treatment, the consolidation phase. We will likely not get the results until tomorrow afternoon or even Monday, so we will be anxiously awaiting to hear back.
Lego time!
Elliott will be sedated for the lumbar puncture, so he will likely be sleepy most of the afternoon (at least that is what has happened in the past). Since he is getting sedation, he won't be able to eat when he wakes up in the morning until after his procedure is over, so let's hope he doesn't get too upset about that. The prednisone (steroid he is taking) didn't seem to affect his appetite or weight in the first few weeks, but all the sudden over the past week, he has put on so much weight and his appetite picked up quite a bit. I will definitely make sure we have a ton of snacks ready for after the procedure. :-)
The good news is that he has no chemo tomorrow, so perhaps his energy level will continue to climb and he'll be in the mood to play this weekend. Laurel and Elliott did play with Duplo blocks for a little while yesterday. He seemed to enjoy that, so it would be great to see more smiles out of him this weekend.
Stay tuned...