Stages of Treatment

In case it hasn't been clear in our blogs I wanted to give some information concerning Anya's treatment plan.

Anya will have three stages of chemotherapy treatment by the time she is finished: induction, consolidation, & maintenance. She is currently in consolidation and will be for about the next six months. Right now they are focusing on her nervous system (intrathecal chemotherapy) - hence the weekly spinal taps.

When Anya gets a spinal tap the doctor pulls fluid out to check for leukemia cells and pushes in a chemotherapy drug. Thankfully, thus far Anya has been leukemia free in her nervous system. This is one of the factors that has put her in a standard risk category. (According to the American Cancer Society, someone in the standard risk category has a 65-85% chance of cure.)

When consolidation is complete, Anya will begin the maintenance phase. It is my understanding that it will last for two years and will require treatment a couple days a month.

Anya is now in remission, meaning less than 5% of her cells are leukemia cells. If she would not have reached remission by the fourth week she would be considered "high risk" which brings with it higher doses of drugs and other treatment (and a lower overall chance of cure).

The doctors do not forsee that Anya will need a bone marrow transplant. Transplants are reserved for patients that are not likely to reach long-term remission with chemotherapy alone. They also do not expect that Anya will need radiation therapy. We praise God for this because radiation therapy can cause problems with growth & mental development in children.

Hope this overview helps answer some questions. If you have more, please feel free to ask!

Sources: http://www.cancer.gov/ and http://www.marrow.org/ (and of course, our wonderful doctors at St. Vincent Medical Center)