Ethan was admitted last Wednesday, 12/4 to start his 5th round of chemotherapy. His blood counts weren’t quite high enough to start on the 12/2 as originally planned. This time, his regimen changed slightly from previous iterations, to include an extra dose of Cytoxan.
Dr. Horn recommended the change for several reasons. First, she had been taking a hybrid approach between the infant Medulloblastoma and the supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor (sPNET) protocols. Because Ethan was so young and so little when he was diagnosed, and because she wanted to ensure that he reached the Radiation phase of his treatment without severe complications, his treatment was slightly skewed towards the infant Medulloblastoma protocol. Now that he’s bigger, older, stronger and post-radiation, she doesn’t want to hold back.
Secondly, she anticipates having to back off of the Cisplatin soon in an effort to spare some of his hearing. Hearing loss is a common side effect of Cisplatin, particularly in those children who are also treated with radiation. In fact, the majority of kids leave this treatment requiring hearing aids. Because Cisplatin is such an effective agent against the PNET, she wants to begin emphasizing the Cytoxan to compensate for its loss down the road. The sPNET protocol specifies about 1.5x the dosage of Cytoxan, which is an alkylating agent used to disrupt DNA in cancer cells, thereby preventing their reproduction. The change required a longer hospitalization than we had become accustomed to, but will be our new standard of treatment for the foreseeable future.
By the way, our Thanksgiving turned out pretty well. I’m such a baby that my Mom stopped by that morning to actually touch the turkey and get it ready to cook. I tried to watch, but Ethan’s commentary sent me over the edge… “Look! Is that his pinky?” - “He looks funny when his wings flap in the sink” - and my personal favorite - “Where are his feet??” He obviously didn’t inherit my weak stomach.
We’re gearing up for the holidays here and Ethan has asked Santa to bring him (please contain your laughter…) a drum set! Stay tuned for more on that…
We hope to enjoy this holiday season without medical complications, so please keep your fingers crossed for us. Happy holidays everyone and thanks for all of your support this year! It would have been a much harder year without you.
Kim.