The Journey Begins, Stay Tuned.

After Mahiyaa started the first induction phase , she have a bone marrow test to check how well the treatment has worked and find out more on minimal residual disease(MRD). MRD is a sensitive test to check if there are any remaining leukaemia cells in her body. She was allowed to be discharged to continue taking her steroid and chemotherapy tablets at home. She was under strong steroids. Steroids are naturally made by our bodies in small amounts. They help to control many functions including the immune system, reducing inflammation and blood pressure.

Man-made steroids can also be a treatment for many different conditions and diseases. I feel its very important for me to stress about the steroids as there is many misleading information on thiscand these are one of the reason why many refrained to get proper cancer treatment. Its important to remember most of child cancer steroids side effects are reversible. Its for temporary only and early treatment can help manage side effects better.

Mahiyaa do get some of side effects from steroids including mood changes where she felt more anxious and emotional than usual and felt tired. Mahiyaa had fluid build up causing swell in her legs, face and weaker bones causing her pain and her muscles was very weak until she couldn't walk or climb stairs. This make us and all her loved one very sad but we tried as much as we can to keep her happy and positive. Her head hair thinning due to chemo effect. This is usually not noticeable by other people but it was upsetting us but it is nothing compare to what she is fighting for. We keep reminding our self to not show her anything and make the changes into something positive.

The second day once we discharged from hospital Mahiyaa and me did one thing that we wanted to do for so long. We both love long hair, but we always wanted to donate out hair to HOPE foundation to make hair wig for cancer patients who have lost their hair permanently due to chemotherapy or radiotherapy . So this is the time, we feel. I didn't want Mahiyaa to feel weird or left out. I wanted be with her in her every transformation. Information on How to donate Hair for Cancer Association will be in my next post.