Hi again, Mark!  My apologies for taking so long to finish this chapter:   
      
   MH>  [He] is on the "Standard Risk B-ALL".  There is Induction,   
   MH>  Consolidation, Interim Maintenance I, Delayed Intensification,   
   MH>  Interim Maintenance II, and then Maintenance.   
      
      
             Yes, "Delayed Intensification" sounds familiar.  I had forgotten the   
   terminology because it's been awhile.  If that's where you get dexa(metha)sone   
   instead of prednisone... the food cravings really kicked in there as far as we   
   were concerned!  Our daughter was constantly hungry but had little interest in   
   anything except milk, pork chops, and nine-grain bread with strawberry jam.  I   
   remember thinking to myself "Well, it's a balanced diet... sort of... and it's   
   just for two weeks."  The net result was that she was the only kid in the ward   
   who didn't seem to need a zinc supplement.  (Details on request.)  My point is   
   that even a kid who's supposedly mentally handicapped may know more that we do   
   at times because we're not wearing their body, or taking the same drugs.  :-))   
      
      
      
   AH>  It sounded to me as if he might be getting more treatment in   
   AH>  the hospital, and less at home, than our daughter did. But I   
   AH>  remember one phase in which we had to go to the hospital every   
   AH>  day for a week or two.   
      
   MH>  We were going to the hospital once every 7 days.  Right now,   
   MH>  it is once every 10 days.  It varies - and there is a part where   
   MH>  it is every day for 4 days in a row - two weeks in a row.   
      
      
             That's the part I was thinking of.  Maybe it was five days in a row,   
   but it was certainly more than four.  I remember going to the ward on weekends   
   for injections of something or other because the clinic wasn't open.  In those   
   days the timing was very strict... if you were due to start something xxx days   
   after the onset of treatment, that's what you did.  Thus I took the liberty of   
   assuming, since our uplink's system was down for a few days & I didn't want to   
   lead the witness, that "next week" didn't necessarily mean "next Monday".  ;-)   
      
      
      
   AH>  With umpteen different drugs, each on a different schedule, I was   
   AH>  the only living person who had the drill committed to memory.  But   
   AH>  just in case something unexpectedly happened to me, the oncologist   
   AH>  & I kept meticulous records of how these things were supposed to   
   AH>  be done. :-))   
      
   MH>  I have all the CureSeach papers that plot out everything by day.   
      
      
             Cute... we weren't told what would happen in the next stage until we   
   got there.  It was thought at the time that parents would feel overwhelmed.  I   
   understand that because (with a kid who... thanks to the effects of prednisone   
   ... was unable to sleep before 3:00 AM although the vampires made their rounds   
   at 7:45) it took me a week to read the stack of papers explaining what parents   
   must know before a kid would be discharged.  And only then could I turn to the   
   library book I'd brought with me... Bernie Siegel's LOVE, MEDICINE & MIRACLES!   
   When I had to pack a hospital suitcase in a hurry I grabbed the first book off   
   the pile on the window sill.  I found it quite helpful at the time because the   
   author is an oncologist who became interested in why some folks survive cancer   
   while others don't.  He encouraged me to go on doing what I was already doing,   
   although other folks thought I was nuts.  Bottom line is, my daughter survived   
   leukemia at a time when the odds were a lot less favourable than they are now.   
   And together the two of them inspired me to start this echo years ago....  :-)   
      
      
      
   MH>  Each week feels like a roller coaster.  We go up (feel better) up   
   MH>  until treatment, and then it is back down..  Then back up again.   
      
      
             Sounds familiar.  Hang in there....  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)