We are SO glad this phase is behind us… Leo did very well again at the hospital this weekend. He also had a blast at the hospital’s playroom a few times! 🙂 So far the side effects are not too bad and our little one has good appetite and is active. We will check his blood on Friday as his ANC dropped down to 800, which is to be expected. We are so happy he stayed on schedule so that we could get rid of this phase! 🙂 That was a challenge even if everything went pretty well!

Next: if he Léo is ready we will start the next phase August 17th, which should last between 2 and 3 months. We were told that this is like a combination of a mini-induction and a mini-consolidation. They call it “delayed intensification”. It’ll be very similar to what Léo has been through these past few months and we know that he handles all this very well. He will probably be neutropenic most of the time, but we now have experience in the field! 😉

We are glad he could enjoy the summer pretty well as his blood counts were so good. Then we will finally be in maintenance for the next 3 years: we are moving forward and it feels good! 🙂

Léo is not suffering from any side effects this time around…: what a relief! 🙂 He is playing joyfully and is very active. This morning we went to Temescal Canyon with Charlotte and his cousin Romain; Léo ran everywhere, playing ball and frisbee, like he used to before he got sick. Such a joy to see him like this! 😉

We are taking a break from the hospital and it feels good. We are scheduled for a blood test on the 25th to see if he is ready for the last hospitalization of this cycle, which would start on the 26th. Nothing in the meantime… just a taste of normal life, which we are all enjoying a lot! 🙂

For some reason this time it was easier to go through; we were actually again in Santa Monica: same room, same view over Santa Monica Mountains: it was very relaxing and pleasant and we got to enjoy a few beautiful sunsets that pleased all of us! Léo also didn’t get as tired from the high dose Methotrexate and didn’t loose much of his appetite this time around. The nurses were amazed! He is a little king over there, they all treat him so nicely… he is a little angel after all! 🙂 He also got to meet a 16 years old, Emily, who became his best friend! She was so sweet to him, they spent a lot of time together, playing and chatting. Charlotte also paid him a visit and spent the whole afternoon with us on Friday: it was much fun for both of them and while Léo was sleeping we got to play Uno together!

Léo cleared his chemo as fast as the first 2 times and we are hoping that he won’t get too many side effects, like last time: only a mild mucositis (which was still painful but manageable) and some butt issues… We know a bit more how to handle them and/or to prevent them, which should help. 😉

Here are a few pics of this hospitalization and former pics from the last 2 weeks. We have one more hospitalization to go and we so look forward to be finished with this phase. Then, upcoming… 3 more months of intensive chemo, pretty similar to what we went through with consolidation, but this time at least we know a bit more how things will go! 🙂

The second round of Methotrexate went very smoothly; we got transferred to UCLA Santa Monica hospital, which was way more convenient for us (we walked there: it’s only 2 blocks away!) and also more relaxing as the whole team seemed more laid-back over there. We also had a wonderful view of the Santa Monica mountains, which made our stay quite pleasant! 🙂

Léo cleared his molecule in a hurry again, but we asked if we could stay just a bit longer, hoping that he wouldn’t develop his mucositis if he received a few more hours of fluids. So far it seems to have worked out… we are keeping our fingers crossed!

His ANC is at 1700; last week it went up to 2600! We are anticipating that his counts should be similar this time around and we look forward to enjoying California sunny weather in the upcoming days!

Léo is doing great; he has a lot of energy and was so happy to leave the hospital after 3 and a half days of being hooked on to his port: he ran around all over the hospital with Charlotte when they came to pick us up!

Next step: the same in a couple of weeks, with another lumbar puncture, which means that we will be hospitalized in Westwood. If he stays on schedule, we will be done with this phase at the end of July: we are moving forward! 🙂