KESJ: 30 April 2009

Thursday, April 30, 2009

30 April 2009

Jeremy's blood counts were OK today, so he had his 6-hour drip of Cyclophosphamide. Hospital clinic was unusually quiet, and he enjoyed the big screen TV and DVD player all to himself! He had fun doing jigsaw puzzles with the nurses, and cooking them ham, pie and biscuits out of yellow playdoh! He will go back to hospital clinic on Monday for a blood test and checkup.

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Definitions

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) - a rapidly progressing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. ALL affects the type of developing white blood cells known as lymphocytes. It is the most common form of childhood leukaemia, and the most common type of childhood cancer. It also occurs in adults.

Blast cells - immature blood cells normally found in the bone marrow. Blast cells normally constitute up to 5% of all bone marrow cells. These cells divide and replenish all the normal blood cells in the marrow and circulating blood. Acute leukaemia is characterised by an accumulation of abnormal blast cells that take over the marrow and spill out into the blood stream.

Bone marrow transplant - the process of replacing bone marrow cells (stem cells) that are unhealthy, with stem cells that are healthy. The healthy stem cells are re-infused intravenously through the central line, after very strong chemotherapy and/or radiation to kill unhealthy stem cells. The re-infusion of healthy stem cells essentially rescues the patient from the chemotherapy and/or radiation, by enabling his or her bone marrow to start producing new blood cells.