Counts, Decisions, Stress

We left out of Seymour around 4:30 yesterday morning for Cooks. Briley and Alicia slept the entire way as I downed the coffee. After arriving at clinic, Briley's port was access and blood drawn for testing. Her ANC had dropped to 890. Although this is still considered good, it will continue to drop. Her next appointment is October 10th and her ANC must be over 500 to receive treatment. We will have a CBC done on the 9th here in Seymour to see if she can get the next treatment. After her lab results came back, we talked to the doctor a good bit about some of our concerns. Briley has gotten into the habit of not minding and has a short attention span, kinda like ADD. The doctor assured us that it probably was not ADD, but the effects from the chemo and also the drastic change in our home life. I guess if I was 4 years old and stuck in the house for 3 months straight, I might go a little wild also as soon as I was able to get out! I think we are well over due for a vacation! The doctor did say that she will have neurological test ran before she starts the maintenance phase.
Briley went down for the lumbar puncture and chemo injections. All went fine. The research nurse stopped in to pay us a visit. We are to the point of treatment that we must decide on what path Briley will go down. Do we stay with the standard protocol that has been proven effective? Or do we say "yes" to research and be randomized into a treatment arm? The COG is wanting to know if they can get the same results with less chemo. Now, I have been sick worrying about the late effects of the chemo, so less would be good. At the same time, if she ever relapsed, I would never forgive myself. With that being said, we have a lot of reading and data to look over. I am on the Internet researching what I can. But ultimately, we will give it up to God. He has been such a powerful force in this journey and I can promise you that He will not lead us wrong. Many Many prayers will be said over the next few days and we would appreciate if you prayed for us to make the right decision.
After the spinal tap, Briley went back to the clinic for her chemo. It is weird to watch the chemo work. She was in such a great mood until the Methotrexate dripped into her veins. It wasn't long before she wanted mommy to hold her. I hate Methotrexate..........and also the late effects. The nurses were great with the nausea meds! After we told them about our past experiences with the increased doses of the MT and how Briley got sick on the way home, the nurses hooked her up! She never got sick and slept the entire way home.
I know this was a little long, but so much happened yesterday. Alicia and I are very stressed about this decision we have to make. At this rate, I'll be bald by Christmas! We will keep all of you updated through out this pivotal time. Thank you!