On New Year’s Eve, Joss finished her consolidation phase and her first round of immunotherapy! We are so relieved to not have to carry around that bag of meds anymore; it was honestly so hard. Since then, she’s been sleeping through the night again, which feels like such a gift. For at least the past month, we were all waking up two or three times a night. Whether it was the meds or just her being uncomfortable, we’re not sure, but we are very thankful for the rest. 

This Tuesday, January 6th, she starts the next phase of treatment called interim maintenance. This phase lasts about eight weeks and focuses on clearing out any remaining cancer cells from the earlier, more intensive treatment. She’ll receive chemo (methotrexate only, since we now know vincristine isn’t safe for her after her recent CMT diagnosis) about every ten days, as long as her counts look good. If not, the schedule will adjust — we’re learning to roll with it. 

She’ll also keep going to the clinic once a week for physical therapy. She’s not walking yet, but we’re seeing real progress, and her therapist shared this week that she’s moving faster than expected, which was so encouraging to hear. We’ve been trying for over a month to get extra PT appointments closer to home, but keep hitting roadblocks, so please keep praying for God’s provision and the right doors to open. 

She also got a cute chop yesterday to help make her hair more manageable for us. It's gotten extremely tangly with it thinning. She was blessed with an immense amount of hair so we're all pleasantly surprised that it's still hanging in there. Maybe she won't lose it all, but it she does, we're prepared.