Alex has had a great week. He spent all day last Wednesday at the Aberdeen track watching the HKIS Track Team compete. It was a gorgeous spring day and Alex took full advantage of the sunshine. His shirt was off the entire time and he came home with a red bald head and tan body. The red head soon turned into a nice tan base to head. He then spent a couple of hours over the weekend at the beach to build on that tan. He is looking quite healthy! As he feels better, he is venturing out more which is good. He hasn't been too consistent with his running but I'm sure that will come.

Counts finally came up enough to begin Maintenance Chemo. We started yesterday and it was hard for all of us to gear up mentally for it. It's been a nice respite for Alex not to have to take any drugs for the last 3 -4 weeks. Yesterday, he had a lumbar puncture and Vincristine. He is also starting up on all of the oral medication. Yesterday, he took 18 pills in all. That was difficult to know that he had to start up on the pills again. The bulk of the pills are steroids and they only need to be taken for 5 days of every 28 days. The rest are either chemo drugs (every day), antibiotics (precautionary- 3 days a week) and acid reducing medication (to be taken with steroids). He didn't seem to feel too bad after the lumbar puncture. We'll see if he gets a spinal headache today. They are also starting the 6-MP (chemo drug) at a lower dosage and will increase as we go. This is the drug that has us worried since it made Alex so nauseous before. Hopefully with the rest and recovery time he has had, he won't experience any side effects. Fingers crossed.

Prom is in a couple of weeks and graduation is a month away. Glad he is able to enjoy what is left of his senior year. In the meantime, I'm sure he'll be working on his tan!