7th April 2009 Tuesday
We got to the hospital just in time to get his finger prick done so that they can do a blood count, then we had to wait for 2 hours, so we went to the play room.
The Doc asked us to sign a form to ask permission from the government to give Jake a new drug called Glivec, which is supposed to fit like a key with the Philadelphia molecule. She made it clear that it will not cure Jake, what it will do is reduce the Leukemia cells enough to give the bone marrow transplant a higher chance for a complete removal.
The Doc then told me that Jake would need to be admitted for part of the chemo in this new phase, and asked if we wanted to wait until after Easter. I thought that since we were not going anywhere, we could go in for one day. She called the head nurse and asked whether they would be short staffed, and they said that they had him penciled in for Thursday anyway.
Apparently they always book kids for the night when they have a lumbar puncture, in case something happens and they need to be observed overnight, so it made perfect sense that Jake was admitted after the lumber puncture. This is good as it means that his port will only be accessed once. The Doc then hung up the phone and told me it was all set, then as I was running everything past her to check that it was all in my head, she said, "Yes, just make sure you pack a bag. Jake will be here for 6 days!"
We will be in the hospital for the whole of the Easter weekend. Oh well - we were there for Christmas ;)
Happy Easter to all!