Decision Made

Well, we made our decision. After a lot of discussion with doctors, nurses and each other we decided to put Ben into the clinical trial. I called the nurse this morning and she randomized Ben into the treament arm he will be on - which is called the "IS" Study Arm. Ben will have an intensified Consolidation phase, which is the phase that starts tomorrow. The rest of the stages (Interim Maintenance, Delayed Intensification and Maintenance) will all be standard treatment. This is one of the two study arms he would have likely been placed on even if we hadn't participated in the study.

I am content with our decision...but am nervous about the next stage of treatment which lasts for 8 weeks. Ben will be getting three new drugs which may have stronger side effects than what we have had to deal with so far. They told us that likely reactions are vomiting, hair loss and loss of appetite. There may also be some impact on his blood counts so we will need to continue to be diligent about exposure to germs. We will need to spend quite a bit of time at the infusion center (4 days a week) for drug transfusions so I am sure he will be playing on his PSP and using his workbooks a lot!

I will try to post a more thorough description of the next phase after I feel I have a better understanding of it. We go in for another spinal tap tomorrow morning and he will also receive all three of the new drugs tomorrow so I will give everyone an update soon!