Follow-Up Treatment

Yesterday was my mom's follow-up appointment with Dr. Loren. Other than the extremely loooonnngggg wait, things went well.

Bone Marrow Test
The bone marrow test that was taken on Day 30 still shows that my mom is CLEAN of leukemia! Wonderful!!! Praise God! Thank you for praying!

Blood Work
Since my mom has been out of the hospital she has gone to get her blood drawn every Monday and Thursday. This has helped to monitor her hemoglobin, platelets, white blood count, neutrophils, etc. The doctor has said that everything is looking good! Even her hemoglobin had gone up in the latest blood work (it had been somewhat on the low, but still okay side). Yay!

Follow-Up Treatment
While the bone marrow test shows that there is no sign of leukemia at this point, the doctor shared with us that leukemia is likely to return in one year if there is no follow-up treatment. With the kind of leukemia that she has (AML with Inversion 16) there is a greater probability for not seeing the leukemia come back again -- with follow-up treatment.

Usually in deciding a course of follow-up treatment they use an "Over-60" and "Under-60" determination.

For those "over-60" they typically admit the patient for chemo and recovery time. In total, the patient would receive (I believe) 6 "doses" of treatment. Usually this route of treatment would be about a month-long hospital stay.

For those "under-60," the typically admit the patient for chemo treatment, followed by recovery time at home. This usually is about 5 1/2 days in the hospital followed by about 5 days recovery at home. During the time the patient is home, IF they get a fever they need to be brought to the hospital. They also monitor very closely the blood work. If at any point it's necessary, they are brought to a clinic or hospital for transfusions. The 1-week treatment / 1-week recovery would be repeated for about 4 courses of treatment. In total, the patient would receive 12 "doses" of treatment over about 4 months. This "under-60" treatment would considered the "more intense" treatment because the patient would receive more chemo.

However, both of these follow-up treatments (CONSOLIDATION THERAPY) are less intense than my mother's first round of chemotherapy (INDUCTION THERAPY).

Because my mom is right on the borderline age-wise (she's 62...) - and considered a "young" 62, and because the leukemia she has tends to have a very good probability of a cure, Dr. Loren would like to go the "under-60" route with her. She is presenting my mom's case to her group (group of other attendings) to see if there are any concerns and objections.

Pray for wisdom for the doctors as they consider her case. To my completely untrained mind it seems like it's an okay route to go since she did so well during the first round of treatment AND if it gives a better shot of completely ridding the body of the leukemia. But, what do I know? Ha! So, pray that the doctors would have HIS WISDOM and DISCERNMENT.

Should there not be any changes to the plan, next week we'll be back at HUP for a week.

And so now this week has quickly become about getting ready for next week. :) We're hoping to get in touch with her dentist, primary doctor and rheumatologist to sort out some things before she begins these cycles of follow-up treatment. And of course take care of things at home.

The long-road continues, but it's good to now have an idea of what the road looks like and where it's heading!!