Labs were as expected we are now 10 days from being totally complete

Emily had her weekly labs today. This will be her second to last weekly lab, and after next week she will only need to go into the clinic once a month. Her ANC was where we would expect, around 5500. Since she is on a %75 dose of her medication cocktail, we expect to see higher ANC scores, since ANC is what you are suppressing with chemotherapy. She will remain on her %75 dose from here on out. At this point the honest truth is being neutropenic is more dangerous than any possible effect of 2 weeks of chemo at this point. I have to remember that as we go through the next few months. When Emily is neutropenic and even hospitalized for it, I hardly worry at all. And what the doctor is saying is the worry about cancer is even less than that worry about neutropenia. I honestly dont' worry when Emily is neutropenic and in the hospital, I hope that in a few months I can be that relaxed about worrying about relapse.

I have to admit that since last week I've been using denial as a coping mechanism, and I'm questioning myself on this strategy. When I learned that the next step if Emily's scan is not clean or if she relapses would be a bone marrow transplant, I couldn't / really or can't deal with that possibility. Many people I know, especially at work, come up to me and commend me on how I am able to juggle a complex position in my company, and deal with having a very sick child. And yes, it's hard and has been hard to do. But I really have been holding on by telling myself this therapy will work, but if it doesn't I really don't know what I will do, or how I will be able to go on. Especially when I heard the next step is a marrow transplant, that's where the denial has come in. Before learning that I have told myself to prepare for the possibility of a bad result, thinking we may have to continue her therapy, but after learning the next step is something I don't think I can deal with, I just decided to tell myself there is no chance the scan will be negative. I really hope I'm not setting myself up for a real fall, when I was so good at keeping honest to myself all the way through.

I filled my emotional gas tank up two years ago with two years of fuel, I'm running on fumes at this point, and there better be a gas station around the next corner, all the signs say it's there, but I can't see it yet. that's my best analogy of how draining this all is.