maintenance!

Today was Wednesday and we didn't go to the hospital. And not because we are on hold and waiting. But because we didn't have to!

You guys, Ethan is now in Maintenance!

Last Wednesday (Oct 15th) was Day 1 of Ethan's first cycle in Maintenance. This phase will last for the next two and a half years. Each cycle is 84 days and will repeat until his last day on May 28th, 2017 (which will also be our sweet Eloise's fifth birthday :) ).

Ethan wasn't quite as excited about taking a picture to celebrate the day. :)

He was, however, excited about the elevator, per usual.

So, our schedule changes a little bit now. Ethan will still be getting chemo throughout the next two and a half years --- but instead of IV chemo every week at the hospital, he now will go once a month for IV chemo and once every 3 months for intrathecal chemo. He will have to take some oral chemo at home and steroids, along with his other meds.

The purpose of this phase is to maintain his remission. The last 9 months were meant to wipe out any cancer cells hiding throughout his blood and so the chemotherapy was very intensive and purposeful to knock down his counts. Now, the goal is to keep his counts within a range above 500 (the threshold for neutropenia) and below 1500. If his counts go to high or too low, his chemo doses will be adjusted accordingly.

It's been a blessing to already get to take advantage of higher counts and Ethan feeling better. He's gotten a chance to go to school every day this week so far.

We've been enjoying the sunshine.

We've been going to the park.

I mean, could this girl look any sweeter with those hands clasped so tightly? She did this every single time she went down the big twirly slide.

Today they wanted to sit in their chairs and look at the stars (in the middle of the afternoon). :)

And, Pete and I our 3 friends (Kelly, Matt & Kristian) who have been training and fundraising together -- ran our half marathon on Sunday morning! What an honor it was to run for Ethan! It was a beautiful morning to run and heavy on my heart the entire race the reason for running. Thank you again to everyone who helped us to reach our fundraising goal for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!

We were blessed to have the BEST cheerleaders!

So, Maintenance is here. This phase seemed so far away when we first started this whole journey, and now, we are in it. Oh, thank you Jesus! And thank you faithful army, for your continued prayers for Ethan and our family. This race we are running isn't over, but it sure feels good to be at this stage.