Treatment

Before steroids                       After 25 days of steroids

As you can see Levi has gone through quite the transformation during his first month of treatment. The first month of treatment for leukemia patients is called Induction. The treatment for this first month is aimed to try and eradicate the leukemia from the body. For the type of Leukemia Levi has his treatment has mostly been taking steroids and receiving chemotherapy. 

Twice a day Levi has takes a steroid called Dexamethasone as well as Zantac to make sure the steroids don't create ulcers in his body. Twice a week he takes Septra which is an antibiotic used to keep him from getting pneumonia. As you can tell from the pictures above the biggest side affect of the steroids is weight gain. The doctors warned us that Levi would be eating a lot and that his cheeks and stomach were going to get bigger. We definitely took everything they said seriously but it has been crazy to see it happen to Levi in such a short period of time. Part of the weight gain is due to Levi retaining water but another big part is that he eats constantly. I am constantly feeding him. In the morning he lays in his bed and I hear him calling to me "Food please, food, food!"Breakfast usually lasts from about 7:30-10. One morning he ate the following for breakfast; grilled cheese, 2-4 sausages, cereal, milk, and crackers. Once breakfast is over he usually just snacks on crackers/popcorn/pretzels. Then for lunch he usually has similar foods that he had for breakfast. The only veggie he will eat is green beans an on an extra hungry day of his he can go through a whole can. By dinner time I am just trying to feed him whatever we have left in the house. Each week he has been stuck on different types of foods. The first few weeks it was pancakes, peanut butter sandwiches and hot dogs. The past couple weeks it has been mac & cheese, green beans, popcorn, chicken nuggets and grilled cheese. This coming Tuesday is Levi's last day taking the steroids. I am so excited for that! Trying to feed Levi this past month has been more exhausting than I anticipated. 

 
Another side affect of the steroid is a weakened immune system. Because of this we have tried to keep Levi away from individuals who are sick. We have also tried to keep him away from really busy places. However, due to his increased appetite, and for my own sanity, I have taken Levi to the grocery store a few times. The steroids also make more moody than normal. As long as he isn't hungry Levi has been pretty happy. The doctors also said that he probably wouldn't walk during this month because the steroids could make his bones hurt but Levi seems to be doing well enough because he has been moving more than I anticipated. He mostly does just sit on the couch and eat but if he wants something he will get off the couch and walk around.

Every Wednesday Levi receives his chemotherapy treatment at Primary Children's. At Primary Children's Levi has blood samples taken from the port that was placed in him when we stayed in the hospital. The blood samples are used to see how his body is reacting to the Leukemia and treatment. They also look at his blood counts to see how high his immunity is. So far Levi's blood levels have been good (good for a cancer patient) and we haven't had to go extreme with quarantining him. He also receives his chemo which is called Vincristine through his port. Luckily the Vincristine doesn't make Levi nauseous or super sick. 

For those of you who are wondering what a port is it refers to the picture below. Basically, it allows the doctors to draw blood and and give levi his chemo without having to do an IV. 

The port is all under the skin and the doctors so when it is not accessed Levi can get it wet and do anything he wants really. He will have this port in his body for about three years. Below is a picture of Levi while his port is being accessed.

On Wednesday Levi will be done with the first phase of his treatment. They are going to take a sample of his bone marrow to see how much Leukemia is left in his body. Depending on the results Levi will stay standard-risk or be moved to a higher-risk. The doctor however, seems pretty confident that he should stay standard risk. 

The next phase is called consolidation. This phase lasts about 1-2 months depending on how Levi responds. I don't know much about this yet but Levi should  be receiving more chemotherapy and should shed the extra pounds he just gained. After consolidation the next phase is remission. This will last about 2-3 years.

Treatment will be about 3 years for Levi. The first 6-8 months Levi will be receiving treatments weekly. After that it slows down a little.

Levi has been such a champion during all of this. I am not sure he knows exactly what is wrong with him but he knows that we are going to the doctors each week to get medicine so he can get better.