Hi, Mark!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
   AH>  That part hasn't changed, apparently. Her treatment lasted   
   AH>  for 2 1/2 years... but I was also told it took 3 1/2 years   
   AH>  for boys.   
      
   MH>  Basically the same, but depending on certain test results,   
   MH>  the treatment times in the Maintenance Phase can be less.   
      
      
             Ah.  I guess there's more flexibility now that the doctors have been   
   using +/- the same protocols for over twenty years.  In our day the time frame   
   was quite rigid AFAIK, but since then they've fine-tuned a lot of things.  :-)   
      
      
      
    [re prednisone]   
   MH>  He was on the steroid for the first 29 days in a row.  In   
   MH>  addition to all the things you noted, he also was eating   
   MH>  like crazy.   
      
      
             Our daughter didn't feel much like eating during the first few weeks   
   ... she survived chiefly on milk, juice, and formula.  While I was in hospital   
   with her nothing went to waste, though.  Fortunately she would leave enough on   
   her plate to enable me to keep body & soul together until Dallas arrived after   
   work.  I understand prednisone does tend to cause food cravings, typically for   
   salty foods &/or carbohydrates.  Maybe our daughter's cravings were different.   
   In any case I was surprised... and rather amused... when I found out that some   
   local pizza restaurants cheerfully made deliveries to the hospital.  Teenagers   
   are more likely to be there on their own than younger children, of course, and   
   more likely to have independent means by which to pay for such luxuries.  :-))   
      
      
      
   MH>  This then means going to the bathroom like crazy and he   
   MH>  ended up with a rash that wouldn't heal until he was off   
   MH>  the steroid.   
      
      
             Uh... you mean something akin to diaper rash?  We had a very similar   
   problem during the third week, in part because of the stool softener which was   
   routinely administered during treatment to keep things moving along.  It was a   
   difficult time for us.  But I gather the alternatives could be worse... you do   
   *not* want caustic chemicals eroding your child's innards, where you can't see   
   what's going on & where the damage would be a lot more difficult to fix.   
      
             Because prednisone inhibits the immune response, it is often used in   
   the treatment of arthritis & asthma as well as leukemia.  The downside in such   
   situations as yours, however, is that it slows the healing of wounds.   
      
             What you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts, or so it is   
   said.  Our daughter had a stubborn case of "cradle cap" which disappeared when   
   she lost her hair.  Glad to know the rash has cleared up, at any rate....  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)