The start of a new stage

On Monday, Leila began yet another new stage of the treatment process. This stage is called Interim Maintenance. She received a chemotherapy called Vincristine through her port IV, which she has had many times before. This is the chemo that makes her hair fall out the most. She also had her weekly blood counts. In addition to this, she is back on Dexamethasone (THE STEROID) for five days. She will continue taking the Mercaptopurine chemo pill throughout this stage also. We also added one more chemo pill which is called Methotrexate oral. It is only given to her once a week, but it is seven pills that have to be given all at once at night before bed. Leila has not mastered swallowing a pill yet, so mom continues to crush the pills and add them to jello.

Leila had to stay up late Monday in order to get all of the medicine down. She slept with mom and was very restless throughout the night. She made it through the night without any problems. Mom was worried about the new pill Methotrexate, because the side affects are known to be bad.