Awaiting Briley's Big Day!

I (John) made it back to Ft. Worth today to find a grumpy 3 year old not wanting anything to do with me. It has been the norm since she's been on steroids. She is no longer a daddy's girl. But all of this is about to change after tomorrow!!! We are patiently waiting for tomorrow to come and go with great anticipation for these reasons:

#1 - her last steroid treatment is in the morning. The steroids have had the most visual (and sometimes audible) impact on us and on her. She constantly eats and has gained so much weight that she has a hard time sitting herself up in bed. She also cannot walk far without giving out. We have to constantly stand at her side and help support her so she doesn't fall. I didn't realize she was so weak after being gone for a few days that I left her standing in the bathroom while I washed my hands, heard a bang, and sure enough, she fell. She was not hurt from the fall. She also has "roid rage". Very typical for kids on steroids. We are extremely excited to be ending her steroid treatment tomorrow and to get our sweet little girl back that we all know.

#2 - She will have a spinal tap to inject more chemo into her spinal fluid and will also have a bone marrow aspirate. Since blood cells are formed in the bone marrow, this is where the majority of the leukemia cells are located and the hardest to kill. We are praying that no leukemia cells are present in the marrow. If that is the case, Briley will be in remission!!! However, with leukemia, it is impossible to be for certain that all leukemia cells have been destroyed. The leukemia started with one single cell that mutated and then divided and took over, so much more chemo is necessary to be certain that no leukemia remains.

#3 - Briley will be finish her first phase of chemo (induction) and will start the second phase (consolidation). There are different treatment plans in consolidation based on the outcome of tomorrow's marrow samples. We are praying that we will be on a treatment plan that allows Briley to go home every so often. Although it will be just a few short days at a time, it would be wonderful! We could come home as early as tomorrow afternoon, or on Tuesday. This is a big "maybe" and has to do with her ANC counts. The higher the counts, the better. Right now the counts are too low to be able to go home, but hopefully in a couple of days they will improve.

We appreciate everyone and your support. We need you more now than ever! Tomorrow is so important for many reasons. Please pray and then pray again. We will post as soon as we can tomorrow. Thank you very much!!!!