Back on Track!

Our Hero's numbers appear to back on the rise again! The labs showed that all his numbers were up and as confirmation that no good deed goes unpunished, for all his efforts of getting strong, he was treated to Spinal Methortrexate sedation (along with Vincristine and antibiotics for good measure.) But then, in ways that only Mom's can, true reward was given when Joe was off to Blue C Sushi at University Village to happily watch his food arrive on a conveyor belt.

Now that Joe's numbers are up and his body seems to have recovered from his bug, he will be starting back up on his chemo pills (easing back in with half doses.) The goal now is to get that break from the hospital trips JoJo thought he was going to get before. If all goes as planned he won't need to go back until April 9th and after that, if everything continues to remain on track Joseph will be ready to start Delayed Intensification on April 23rd.

Even with the bumps in the road (the bugs, the 5 day, twice a day, steroids that tend to anger Joe - although they haven't caused the hunger and the weight gain this time) all of Team Taylor feels blessed and very happy for things to have gone as smoothly as they have. You only need see one very sick child at the hospital to know and be thankful for what our Hero has been to accomplish so far. Heck, people can't believe he hasn't even lost his hair. As always, thank you and keep the prayers and positive vibes coming! Stay tuned...

Bump in the Road...

Well, the plan was for our Hero to get a couple of weeks off from going to the hospital, but sometimes germs and viruses have other plans. That was the case when Joe caught a bit of a bug on Sunday and, per protocol, had to head into see the doctor when he started to run a bit of a fever. After testing his numbers and revealing ever thing as strong they sent JoJo home to rest.

But as this rollercoaster ride goes sometimes, Team Taylor got a call Monday requesting Team Taylor's attendance back at the hospital as Joseph's blood cultures came back positive for infection, but after reviewing the x-rays they had ruled out pneumonia. A drip antibiotic was started to work on the infection and although his ANC had gone down to 659 (from 2000 the night before) there was no fever present. Per protocol, our Hero was admitted to keep an eye on him and his numbers for about a 48 hour period. But after good test results, his ANC up to 900 and climbing, Joe was sent home with his antibiotic IV to finish off the bad stuff. His energy remains high and positive but JoJo could really do without people poking him with needles all the time, after all his Xbox 360 just came back from repair and he has some catching up to do! Keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming and stay tuned...

Piece of Cake!

Our Hero is making the Interim Maintenance phase of his treatment look like a walk in the park. Whether he's knocking back his meds with nary a complaint, going back to school, preparing for the start of his baseball season or bringing back great lab numbers (Hematocrit: 35.6; platelets: 245; ANC 1660) he is moving right along. Team Taylor has basked in Joe's high energy and good appetite.

But it's not just his health that's been good; his memory is sharp too - as evidenced by his sudden awareness of where he was headed when he headed past University Village on his way to a finger poke to run labs. Needless to say, he's not experiencing any weakness in the vocal cord department either. All was made a little easier to swallow when Mom was able to assure him that he would not have to be going back for another '14 sleeps.' (That's two weeks for those keeping score at home.)

Although everyone is enjoying Joe's increasing strength, health, appetite and energy levels, the management branch of Team Taylor is starting to struggle with how they are going to be able to explain the purpose of the challenge and overall yuckiness of the Delayed Intensification stage given that he will be feeling good. Everyone is hoping Lego's comes out with a whole new collection of Star Wars themed toys as well as a few new Star Wars video games. If anyone knows George Lucas, please put in a call on Joe's behalf. ;)

As always, keep the great positive vibes and prayers coming. Stay tuned...

Now on tap... Interim Maintenance

Now that our Hero has fully rebounded from his bout with the flu and challenging round of treatments, he is ready to start the next phase of his treatment, Interim Maintenance. This is a phase that last roughly two months not including a week of recovery. The theme of this part of the treatment - medicine, lots and lots of medicine. Below is a little break down of what Joe is washing down with his juice, meals and snacks:

• Bactrim - an antibiotic that he takes every Monday and Tuesday morning and evening. This will help fortify JoJo against pneumonia and other respiratory problems.
• Methotrextate - this is six and a half pills of a chemo medication that is washed down every Wednesday night with lots of juice.
• Dexamethasone - this is a steroid that Joe received neither from Roger Clemens nor his trainer that he will be taking 2.5mg of five days out of every month in the morning and the evening. For all those who remember, the last time he took steroids, our Hero had the appetite of 5 Joe Taylors (and that's really saying something) and ended up gaining 12lbs. This time that hasn't been an issue, but instead resulted in an irritable boy who has trouble staying asleep. But then again, who of us wouldn't be a little irritable if a pill we thought was going to allow us to eat like crazy wasn't doing that anymore?!
• Mecaptopurine - this is another chemo medication that JoJo will be taking Monday through Thursday (1 tablet) and Friday through Sunday (1.5 tablets.)

In addition to the meds, Mom also thinks he'll have to take IT Methotrexate (Sedation Spinal) one a month during the phase - but she'll be checking with the Team Taylor Medical Staff to verify that. But even with all of that, combined with Joe's lack of fondness for taking pills, he's been heroic and taking them like the champion he is and it's everyone's hope that the next time he goes in (not until next Wednesday) that the simple finger poke he's getting shows that his numbers are still doing great and he won't have to go back for two weeks! That would be a BIG boost to JoJo's morale for sure.

Per the doctor's suggestion, Joe has started going back to school a little and although it was a little rough at first, he seems to be warming to it a bit and empowering him to have a say in the length of his stay has been a help. But after a long weekend of Joe stating he didn't want to go back to school, he has begun telling stories of his class and his friends. He's rapidly returning to the active and happy JoJo to everyone's delight.

Thought we might take a moment to give a bigger overview of where we are in the process of our Hero's treatment and what is next. After he completes this phase is the challenging and appropriately named Delayed Intensification which will last for roughly two months as well. It will be a tough phase but the reward will be a return to semi-normalcy when our Joe enters the final stage - Maintenance. This is a three year phase that consists of the medications listed above.

As always keep the prayers and positivity coming and stay tuned... Mom said she's going to send along a picture of the special haircut Dad gave our Hero. :)

The Charge Begins Anew...

After what Mom describes as the "longest month of their lives," great news came in on our Hero's most recent tests. His ANC went up to 1344, Hematocrit to 31.6 and his platelets were up to 244! With the docs go ahead Joe had a treatment done on Wednesday and now just medication (lots of pills) for the next two months. After which JoJo will be going in to see the doc for a blood test and then two weeks later in for some treatment with sedation. Keep the thoughts and vibes coming!!! Stay tuned...

The Climb begins again!

As was noted in the update to the last post, our Hero's ANC numbers jumped up to 270 which was fantastic news. Joe's hematocrit was up again (32.6) and his platelets were up to a healthy 291. Although his WBC remains low at 1.5, the hope and expectation is that as this is determined by a formula which includes the ANC, this will improve exponentially with the improvement of his ANC. Mom very appropriately describes the improvement as a definining moment as it marks the beginning of the 'Interim Maintenance' phase which is a real sign of progress that has felt a long time in the coming. Additionally, when JoJo's numbers reach the appropriate levels it will be time to bid adieu to the "study" as the next courses of treatments will be the standard courses. Let's keep those great vibes and prayers coming to get all the numbers up into not only acceptable but very healthy ranges!!! Stay tuned...

**UPDATE** Joe's numbers went up a bit more in his last lab work. His ANC now up to 348, which isn't where it needs to be to start the next cycle of treatments. But it was up enough for Mom to 'lift the bubble' a bit and let our Hero get some good quality play time in with his cousins and big brother Paul over the weekend. Stay tuned...

The Dog Days of Winter

We all got a little spoiled. Everything had been going so swimmingly that we expected to have nothing but glowingly positive results and reports. But if Leukemia was all peaches and creme, our Hero wouldn't be going through all the stuff he's been going through for the last five or six months. So it is with that that Team Taylor has encountered a slight slowing to the momentum that has been gaining so much speed. JoJo's numbers have been yo-yo-ing a little bit over that last couple of days. Specifically we can see the ANC go from 75 to 138 to the 99 he's remained steady at for the last two labs. (Keep in mind 200 is the magic number to remain a bit more solid for fighting up bugs, bacteria and the like.) The medical staff component of Team Taylor is not concerned about it as they report that this is common to see this after an intense chemo session followed by a bad flu bug.

That being said, the family component of Team Taylor would do virtually ANYTHING to see those numbers go up. First and foremost, we want them up so we can all be a bit less concerned about Joe being susceptible to any bugs or viruses (not to mention to stop the stress of going in for labs every two days.) Joseph is no dummy, getting poked with needles isn't fun and since he is feeling fine he doesn't understand the necessity for all this nasty business. Additionally all the people working in the toy factories all over the world would like to see JoJo's numbers go up so they can stop working double shifts that are required to keep the toys coming to reward our Hero for his bravery. (Mom is not a big fan of using the toys as behavior modification tool but every hero has one soft spot and with as angry and upset as Joe has been with this stuff, sometimes it's all that works.)

So with that, for the sake of our Hero, his family, his friends, yourself and the frantic toy workers all over the world, please roll up your prayer and positive vibe sleeves for our Hero, let's get those numbers back up so he can get a bit of a break from the hospital trips and everyone else can rest a bit easier knowing he's a bit more resistent to the bugs that having been hammering everyone else. The next trip to check the numbers happens on Tuesday so stay tuned!

**QUICK UPDATE** - The numbers are in and our Hero has gone from an ANC of 99 to an ANC of 278. Way to go JoJo!