4/8/25
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Jade Cato's Recovery
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Jade Cato's Recovery
This is a hard one to write……
If you’ve been following along…
You know there has been a lot of issues with Jade’s liver enzymes pretty much since beginning maintenance therapy in January. She had semi elevated levels before but nothing like what we have been seeing the past few months.
After more exploration and diving into why Jade is responding this way… we have a little more insight… but sadly none of it is good.
Jade is currently on two oral chemos. Mercaptopurian and Methotrexate. It’s probably accurate to assume that since her liver enzymes sky rocketed when starting these chemos, one or both is likely the culprit. (Remember according to the protocol and all the cancer research these chemos are what Jade needs to stay in remission and she still has 14 more months she is supposed to be taking them).
Let’s start with the mercaptopurian. Her team did a study about two weeks ago to see how her body is metabolizing this. The normal threshold is under 7,500. Jade’s result was over 22,000… meaning that her body is not metabolizing it effectively…. Thus making her liver work really hard… which can lead to inflammation and damage ….they came up with a solution… we cut the dose in half and started a new med (allopurinol) that helps divert one of the enzymes the liver was struggling to metabolize.
We repeated labs after a week and her liver enzymes shot up even higher… from 200 to 658…. Doesn’t make sense… so the thought is that it’s not only the mecaptopurian but also the methotrexate.
We are going to hold the methotrexate for a week and look at labs on Monday and see if numbers come down.
But remember, these chemos are what is keeping the cancer away so they are extremely important….
It’s all so scary. Jade is at a point now where she has been referred to hepatology and has an appointment for an elastography and if that is abnormal she will need a liver biopsy.
If you are medical, it makes more sense when I say factor 5 and 7 are low but factor 8 is normal. Alt is almost 20x the upper normal limits…. Basically there are many signs that Jade is experiencing hepatotoxicity (liver toxicity) from the chemo regimen.
I asked for Jade to be tested for the MTHFR gene mutation. Honestly I have thought since Jade was a baby that she had this. It can be a huge reason why she is having issues with the methotrexate. The results came back tonight and my instincts were correct. She does have this mutation. Basically it’s something that can cause you to have issues processing folic acid…and methotrexate is a folate antagonist…
I will know more when I talk to her team tomorrow and update as I have the words and thoughts to share.
I broke down pretty bad this week..
It’s all so scary… we had a plan… she needs these meds… cancer… liver damage…. She is 10???
If you’ve been following along…
You know there has been a lot of issues with Jade’s liver enzymes pretty much since beginning maintenance therapy in January. She had semi elevated levels before but nothing like what we have been seeing the past few months.
After more exploration and diving into why Jade is responding this way… we have a little more insight… but sadly none of it is good.
Jade is currently on two oral chemos. Mercaptopurian and Methotrexate. It’s probably accurate to assume that since her liver enzymes sky rocketed when starting these chemos, one or both is likely the culprit. (Remember according to the protocol and all the cancer research these chemos are what Jade needs to stay in remission and she still has 14 more months she is supposed to be taking them).
Let’s start with the mercaptopurian. Her team did a study about two weeks ago to see how her body is metabolizing this. The normal threshold is under 7,500. Jade’s result was over 22,000… meaning that her body is not metabolizing it effectively…. Thus making her liver work really hard… which can lead to inflammation and damage ….they came up with a solution… we cut the dose in half and started a new med (allopurinol) that helps divert one of the enzymes the liver was struggling to metabolize.
We repeated labs after a week and her liver enzymes shot up even higher… from 200 to 658…. Doesn’t make sense… so the thought is that it’s not only the mecaptopurian but also the methotrexate.
We are going to hold the methotrexate for a week and look at labs on Monday and see if numbers come down.
But remember, these chemos are what is keeping the cancer away so they are extremely important….
It’s all so scary. Jade is at a point now where she has been referred to hepatology and has an appointment for an elastography and if that is abnormal she will need a liver biopsy.
If you are medical, it makes more sense when I say factor 5 and 7 are low but factor 8 is normal. Alt is almost 20x the upper normal limits…. Basically there are many signs that Jade is experiencing hepatotoxicity (liver toxicity) from the chemo regimen.
I asked for Jade to be tested for the MTHFR gene mutation. Honestly I have thought since Jade was a baby that she had this. It can be a huge reason why she is having issues with the methotrexate. The results came back tonight and my instincts were correct. She does have this mutation. Basically it’s something that can cause you to have issues processing folic acid…and methotrexate is a folate antagonist…
I will know more when I talk to her team tomorrow and update as I have the words and thoughts to share.
I broke down pretty bad this week..
It’s all so scary… we had a plan… she needs these meds… cancer… liver damage…. She is 10???
Comments
Gabrielle Buchanan
Kaseylcrider
Heather Douglas
Sandy Kinneer
Ashley Howard
I appreciate your transparency in this journey. My prayers continue for the family.
Kim0309
Vick Arnold