Starting maintenance...

After some scary moments with bacterial infections, Ben’s strength has once again prevailed. He has gotten rid of his infections and has started a maintenance protocol. This 8 week repeating cycle of chemo will go on for the next 2 years.

This past Wednesday, Ben had another bone marrow biopsy to check for leukemia. He also had a spinal tap where liquid from the spine is removed and checked for leukemia (leukemia cells tend to “hide” in the spinal euid or in the brain). He also received Vincristine, a cancer drug, into his veins.

Every 2 weeks he will receive chemo. Some weeks he will have to be admitted to stay 3 days at the hospital while he gets IV chemo. Every week that he is not going into the hospital to receive chemo, he will have blood drawn at a local clinic to check his counts to make sure they don’t go down too low. During this 8 week cycle, he will also get chemo drugs which we will administer at home.

This week he has gone to school 2 days. This is the [rst time he has attended school this year. We had trouble getting him up in the mornings before but on the days he had to attend school, he was up on his own. That shows us that he craves a normal life of school and friends. We are so happy to see him going to school and playing with his

friends who have been excellent in welcoming him back. We are all getting a rare taste of a normal life these past

few days. We know they may not last but we are enjoying them as much as we can.