Noah begins Maintenance on 9/29/2021. I am so emotional just thinking about everything he has been going through and what he will continue to go through the next year and a half.
The Maintenance phase is 12 week treatment cycles. It is more of a steady treatment plan. He will get a Lumbar Puncture with IT (chemo in spine) every 3 months starting the first day of maintenance 9/29.
He will receive VinCHRIStine (chemo) the first day of each cycle through his port. He will be on Mercaptopurine (6mp) oral chemo every single day for the next year and a half. He will take methotrexate (oral chemo) once a week. He will also take Dexamethasone (steroid) the first 5 days of each cycle.
With Maintenance, there are still no detectable leukemic cells in Noah’s bone marrow or blood. But this phase is very important and must be completed because cancerous cells may still be present, even if they cannot see them so there is no chance of relapse.
Noah still has a long road of treatment ahead of him but we have a more steady based treatment schedule. We still have to be cautious of infection, germs and fever as chemo treatments weaken the immune system and let’s not forget covid exposure is still a concern!
Noah’s END OF TREATMENT date is:
March 25, 2023. 🔔
2021-09-13
