Locker Room

We just had our final appointment with the Leukemia team before chemo starts. It very much felt like the last minute review of the plays before a big game. Or rather a whole season. The good news is, our Team Captain is the star quarterback with JC on his jersey.

The short version of our pregame talk in the locker room:

• Kids under age 4 with Ruby’s type of Leukemia are prescribed six cycles of chemo. Each cycle lasts 28 days, so ideally, we are done in six months. However, things that can stall her restarting every 28 days are infection, low blood counts, fever…. So there is a high probability of delay in this schedule at some point.
• The plan right now is for the chemo to start next Wednesday, but we are waiting on confirmation.
• Ruby will go in the day before chemo starts to receive platelets via IV and then come home. The morning of her chemo, she will be admitted to the hospital. She will be put under and then have surgery to place her port (in her chest), where she will receive her intravenous chemo throughout her entire treatment. While she is under they will do a lumbar puncture to administer chemo to that area and gather a sample of spinal fluid. Later that day they will start her first round of chemo which will go in through her port for 96 hours. She will also take chemo orally 2x/day for the first 4 days.
• The first round of chemo is monitored incredibly close for everything from allergic reactions to adequate tolerance to desired effectiveness. This monitoring includes many blood tests and another bone marrow biopsy, as well as many machines and nurses keeping very close watch over her.
• (Here's the doozy) Ruby will stay in the hospital for at least three weeks for the first round of chemo. She will have many other overnight stays, likely 2-5 days each, throughout her full treatment, but hopefully this will be the only long one.

So.... Go Team Ruby! Fight! Fight! Fight! We have the winning team, the best cheering section; we just need to stick to the plan and listen to the wise words of our Team Captain.