March 11th
In support of
The Heath Family
View Support Registry
The Heath Family
Hello to all of our family and friends around the world. I’m sorry that I haven’t put out an update for a while. As we’ve gone on through the treatment phases our mental energy levels have definitely depleted (as confirmed by my Nan during her visit when we must have been extremely boring hosts in the evenings!) It was great to have her with us for the last 6 weeks and we’re sorry to see her go.
Sky went through BLINA without any real hiccups and was feeling good in herself. We’ve now moved onto the delayed intensification phase however, which as the name suggests is much more intense. This phase lasts 2 months and brings back a lot of chemo drugs and also the dreaded steroids from the first 2 phases of her treatment all the way back in May/June/July of last year (full list of meds at the end of this update). She has been tolerating it well without too much nausea and thankfully the steroids are not to the same extent as before but the mood swings and general upset are definitely coming on in full. We’re in week 2 right now so a long way to go in the phase.
We are definitely starting to feel like we are in the light at the end of the tunnel part of treatment now as after delayed intensification we have 2 months of interim maintenance 2, which only has us at the hospital every 10 days on a much reduced intensity of treatment and the we are in maintenance afterwards until November 2027 which will be full completion of treatment. In maintenance, Sky will only receive hospital treatment once every 3 months so it will be almost a return to a normal life for her.
We ask you all to continue to pray for Sky. That she will tolerate the remainder of treatment well, that she will remain in remission (no relapse), and that most of all she will grow to love Jesus as her Lord and Saviour.
With all our love,
Michael, Poppy, Nathan, Elijah, and Sky
Meds during delayed intensification:
Dexamethasone - steroid (tablet)
Methotrexate - chemo (lumbar puncture)
Vincristine - chemo (IV - central line)
Doxorubicin - chemo (IV - central line)
Thioguanine - chemo (tablet)
Micafungin - (IV)
IVIG (IV)
IV Pentam (IV)
Rylaze - chemo (injection)
Famotidine (oral liquid)
Suprax (oral liquid)
Zofran (oral liquid)
Sky went through BLINA without any real hiccups and was feeling good in herself. We’ve now moved onto the delayed intensification phase however, which as the name suggests is much more intense. This phase lasts 2 months and brings back a lot of chemo drugs and also the dreaded steroids from the first 2 phases of her treatment all the way back in May/June/July of last year (full list of meds at the end of this update). She has been tolerating it well without too much nausea and thankfully the steroids are not to the same extent as before but the mood swings and general upset are definitely coming on in full. We’re in week 2 right now so a long way to go in the phase.
We are definitely starting to feel like we are in the light at the end of the tunnel part of treatment now as after delayed intensification we have 2 months of interim maintenance 2, which only has us at the hospital every 10 days on a much reduced intensity of treatment and the we are in maintenance afterwards until November 2027 which will be full completion of treatment. In maintenance, Sky will only receive hospital treatment once every 3 months so it will be almost a return to a normal life for her.
We ask you all to continue to pray for Sky. That she will tolerate the remainder of treatment well, that she will remain in remission (no relapse), and that most of all she will grow to love Jesus as her Lord and Saviour.
With all our love,
Michael, Poppy, Nathan, Elijah, and Sky
Meds during delayed intensification:
Dexamethasone - steroid (tablet)
Methotrexate - chemo (lumbar puncture)
Vincristine - chemo (IV - central line)
Doxorubicin - chemo (IV - central line)
Thioguanine - chemo (tablet)
Micafungin - (IV)
IVIG (IV)
IV Pentam (IV)
Rylaze - chemo (injection)
Famotidine (oral liquid)
Suprax (oral liquid)
Zofran (oral liquid)
Comments
Chris Gurr
Karen Palfreyman
Janet Hunter
Gary Heath