At 8:30 PM on July 8th, Dr. Medvedova and the rest of the team joined us in her room. She sat down and began to explain to us that they had allot of the data in but they would need pathology and radiology to fully read the pet scan and brain MRI but wouldn't be done until Monday at the earliest.
She began to explain that her bone marrow was filled with cancer and therefore her diagnosis has changed to leukemia and not lymphoma. Ever since seeing our PC doctor we had thought it was lymphoma and now this changed everything. We were initially scared to death as we had not researched leukemia nor had any knowledge of what that change meant. She also let us know that she was seeing some shine in the pet scan around the brain which possibly represented cancerous activity. After speaking with another doctor on the 10th we were informed that it was not definite and that they weren't sure what it was yet and to not get ahead of ourselves. This was somewhat of a relief as it is much more difficult to treat if it's in the spinal fluid. Needless to say this was devastating to hear.
She also began to explain the treatment. This would include a 30 day initial period where she would undergo a very intense chemo regimen on top of additional radiation treatments a couple months later and up to 2 1/2 years of maintenance chemo. She would also start immediately on 140mg prednisone being administered at 70mg doses in the morning and evening starting that night. At these high levels it could send her into type 2 diabetes requiring insulin injections and potentially it could become permanent. The alternatives were definitely worse and she had no choice to start as recommended. The answers just kept getting worse and worse and to know our baby girl was basically filled with cancer was just blowing us away. Through it all she has remained witty, intuitive, and on top of everything when it comes to the details. In allot of ways she asks better questions than us at times and it was just shocking to hear that it could be in her spinal fluid. She also told us that had we not come in when we did, Mayleigh most likely would be dead within a month. We were speechless...
We thought of all the times we were so close to being where we needed to be and the missed opportunities, the trip to Boise, the cancelling of the original OHSU appointment. They assured us to not beat ourselves up over this and that we were there now and they were going to do everything possible to get her well again. Even though we felt like we were late to the show they made us feel optimistic that we are still able to beat this and we have no doubts of that. With so much love and support from everyone we know it's hard not to feel confident. And Mayleigh's attitude could not be better. She is one of the most stubborn people I know and if she says she's gonna beat cancer you can bet your life she won't quit till she does!
After being told we would be starting chemo the next day they left the room. At last. We finally had our answers. A.L.L. Probably the last thing I ever thought would invade my baby girl and here it was all throughout her body. We knew at some point we were going to have to come home as we have 2 dogs and it had already been nearly 2 weeks since being home longer than an hour. My wife's business was falling behind and we desperately needed to get back to resolve a few issues with life. We were not looking forward to this as we want nothing more than to be by her side non stop. Thankfully her fiance would be there on Sunday so we could get a few days to go back and catch up. But first things first... her first round of chemo as scheduled for Saturday the 9th and we weren't quite sure what to expect. We would soon find out.
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