Sam is psyched that he got a “bye” until Sunday night: he won’t be admitted for round 2 of consolidation until then. This decision was made based on a few practical, as well as medical, factors (in no particular order): he made his cell count numbers so that indicated a “go” for today; he had “grade 3” mucositis (inflammation of the esophagus in his case (it can include sores in the mouth too but thankfully he was spared that); Grade 3 means it was bad enough that in made him not want to eat— so that was a reason to wait; and there are already 6 patients lined up and scheduled for Friday’s procedure calendar (max is 5 but they can push to 6 if need-be, but pushing it to 7 is not usually an option). Monday has 5 calendared (it’s a busy time in the pediatric heme/onc department at Stanford) but Sam is “easier” to get in because he can get his lumbar puncture procedure done without an anesthesiologist, so that makes him more “favorable” to squeeze in to a jammed schedule.

As a result of what they’ve learned from round 1, he will get the following changes to his Round 2 medicine:

1) the High Dose Methotrexate will be reduced from 5 mg to 3.5 mg

2) he will get more fluids Sunday night and Monday before the medicine is administered

3) He will get more fluids after getting the chemo medicine

So hopefully the nausea and vomiting suckage that followed Round 1 will be eliminated by the above interventions (plus the anti-nausea meds (prophylactic and post chemo too).

And he will, of course, continue to kick leukemia’s ass!

Plus, he gets to spend time with his friend from Camp CAMP (who’s flying in from TX with her mom on Saturday) going to the beach or some other scenic or significant locale of his/their own choosing — and there are so many to choose from in our awesome Bay Area 🙂). #carefreeteenagertime 

and he won’t be hooked up to his BFF IV caddy/pole during her visit either — yay!

Thank you to his LPCH team for looking at all the factors and agreeing that having 4 days to rebound nutritionally and with a friend is medicine too. He’s looking forward to this weekend to be a carefree teen. 

#TeamSam

#FUleukemia