Day 138 - Clinic and more chemo

Clinic today went great.  In fact, the doctors were amazed because his ANC did not drop from last week (it's 754 today).  So, we get to continue on our path, including chemo today and the next 3 days.
He also got a tentative schedule for the rest of his treatment.  As the doctors were very adamant, this is depending on a whole lot of crap, but at least it's a plan.

This phase still needs 3 more weeks, so we should be done with 'consolidation' around Sept 25th.

Next phase (inter-maintenance) should take about 4 weeks, so that would be finished by the end of October.

After that, we have 8 weeks of "delayed intensification", which apparently is going to really suck.  He will probably need a break in the middle of that, so I guess we might be finished with that phase by the end of December.

Last, we have scheduled 2 weeks of radiation, which we are discussing with our team (Patrick and I would really like to discuss the need for radiation with our team, as the side effects kind of freak us out).

So, if all goes well, we could be back home by February of next year, which would be awesome.  However, as Ryan never does anything according to the plan, I'm expecting more like March or April.  So, their original timeline of 12 months seems possible.

The boys are stir-crazy and bored and lonely, but they are hanging in there.  We usually talk on the phone for a few hours each night, so that helps.  Patrick has made friends with the team at the hospital and a few other people at the apartment, so that helps as well.  Amazingly, you just keep waking up and going through your day.  It's already been over 4 months, so we're close to half way through.  And on the bad days, I just remind myself that I can get through today, and I'll worry about tomorrow later.

Thank you all for the prayers and good thoughts!