Titus participated in a clinical study - documenting how quickly his body metabolizes his oral chemo in pill form, and then the next day in liquid form. The end result hopefully being making the liquid form available nationwide for kids who have trouble swallowing pills. He had his blood drawn over a dozen times each day, and got to play all day - we had a fun two days!
Titus received his "Beaded Journey" beads (not complete until treatment ends). Having something that he can look at and hold and count is very neat. Each bead stands for something that he has had to do, or had done to him during his treatment. Each poke, each chemo, each test.
Alot of time has passed since our last blog update. Titus passed his two year mark since his diagnosis on March 1st. He is going to be six soon! He is reading, doing math problems, being a wonderful student and big/little brother. He has had his routine treatments every 12 weeks, the last one being last week on the 12th. He received methotrexate via a needle into his spinal space (lumbar puncture = LP), he also received vincristine through his port in his chest, both of these are chemotherapy drugs. He also began his 5 days steroid pulse that day, thankfully he finished that up before spring break this week! Titus went to school Thursday and Friday after his procedure. He was pale and worn out from chemo, and a little grumpy from his steroids, but made it through with a smile on his face. For the record, he isn't made to attend school, I rigorously question him about how he is feeling and if he feels like staying in bed, and his teacher and I chat off and on. He called me Thursday afternoon and requested his pain medicine, but wanted to stay at school. Like I said, so brave!
If you search for the post labeled "Counts..." you can compare these if you want.
Titus' platelets were 72,000 on Wednesday the 12th, this number is lower than I've seen it in awhile (6-9 months) and is lower because his oral home chemo med was raised 25% at his visit in February due to his ANC being too high. This may get confusing...bare with me...His ANC (absolute neutrophil count) measures his immunity essentially (it is a part of the white blood count) and has to stay between 750 and 1500, this is how they measure if his oral chemo is at the correct dose to do what it is supposed to be doing...suppressing his immunity enough to hopefully prevent any more bad cells from being produced (as well as killing any remaining bad cells). His ANC had been above 1500 in January and February, so at February's visit his at home oral chemo dose was raised. At his visit last week, his ANC had risen even higher. This can be caused by a number of things, which is why his chemo isn't adjusted based on just one lab test. Next month's visit will determine if we raise the dose again. I am hoping his ANC goes down to the desired level and stays there. I'm also hoping that his platelets will hold steady despite the increase in his oral chemo last month. I will update after his next lab check next month.
Thank you for those of you who are still around and following Titus' journey, it means a lot knowing we have your prayers and support. Much love from the Beeler's!
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