Day 28

Day 28 seems to be a pivotal date in the world of ALL leukemia. It is the date that the doctors kept holding out there as when the "final" bone marrow test will be done in order to check the marrow for minimal residual disease. I am feeling fairly optimistic that Ally's MRD will be below the threshold and she will indeed move forward into the next phase of her treatment. Dr. French confirmed my optimism today by saying that he also thinks she will be moving out of the induction phase. Of course, there is always a chance it will come back differently. We find out on Thursday morning.

After getting to the hospital at 8:30, they finally did the bone marrow at Noon, followed immediately by the spinal tap. I was pretty annoyed that we had to wait so long, although I know that emergencies do come up. I was just feeling really sorry for Ally because she is not allowed to eat or drink before the procedure. She was crying a lot and begging for a drink and food. So that just made me feel terrible. She was still in EXTREME belly pain today. I think she cried more today than I have ever seen her cry. In her whole life. And that was after being up all night again last night. We just have to get this resolved. We are trying. We are definitely trying.

So my general feeling for Day 28 is that we have hit rock bottom. Which is kinda how I think it is supposed to be, but it just stinks now that we are in the trenches of it. The doctor said to Ally "well you made it through the first month" And I think he was saying it in the sense that it is quite a hurdle that she/we have passed. I do think if we get this constipation issue resolved, she may end up feeling okay later in the week. They kept telling us today that this upcoming week was her "break" because she did not get much chemo today. Just the methotrexate into her spine. That does not sound like an easy thing, but I guess in reality it is a "break"

I hear her crying again, I best go. There is not much I can do except scratch her back and give her a hug. I rubbed her head and sang to her for about 30 minutes tonight just to get her to fall asleep initially. And believe me when I say I am a horrible singer, but I am digging into the bottom of my bag of tricks to try to comfort her. I feel so helpless.