Justin Condoluci

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They're on to us

June 17, 2013 7:11pm

Much shorter day at CHOP today, even with 2 more kids in tow.  Annie had to come along today to have blood drawn to make sure she didn't somehow mysteriously change her blood type in the last 2 years and is no longer Justin's perfect match.  Needless to say, we are not expecting any surprises on that front.  Not to be left behind Carter decided to come along to provide comic relief - which he did in spades.

Justin only had a lumbar puncture with intrathecal chemo today.  He cannot have IV chemo (into his blood) as it is too close to next week when we will be harvesting his T-cells.  The bone marrow aspiration from 2 weeks ago came back with the minimal residual disease number, which was 7.7%.  Better than we were expecting - good news.  However, the blasts have "evolved" - bad news.  In essence, the cancer is wise to all the chemos used thus far and while those drugs managed to get him into remission last time (and the time before that) we will need to pull out the big guns moving forward this time.  It is still b-cell leukemia which is why harvesting Justin's T-cells is still important.

Dr. Rheingold wasn't in today as she was returning from a reunion but has been really good about staying in touch via calls and texts.  She is also keeping her promise to keep Justin out of the hospital until after graduation (Thursday) and our graduation party (Sunday).  On Monday June 24th, the full frontal assault will begin.  Good thing too as Justin is slowly losing steam...

So next Monday we will venture to CHOP where Justin will be admitted.  He will go to surgery, have more intrathecal chemo and a med-pro line inserted into his neck.  On Tuesday they will harvest the T-cells from that line.  On Wednesday he will go back into surgery to have the line removed and replaced, more than likely, with a broviac line.  We are going to fight for a tandem sub-cutaneous port as a broviac will not allow him to swim, at all, this summer.  After insertion of line they will commence with high-dose chemos, some of which Justin has never seen before and with harsher side-effects than he's used to - so you know, good times.  It will actually be a blessing to have him in-patient so they can monitor him closely and treat his pain.

So before that, we've decided to break the bank (haha, it's sooo broken already) and have a big pool party for the kids to celebrate their graduation.  We are also looking forward to seeing Monsters University on Friday night and going out to dinner.  Thanks to those of you who have reached out and made meals, we really appreciate it!