A Week Into Phase 2

Had the second of 4 chemo injection into his spinal fluid today because they switched us to mondays. Once again we had to starve a hungry boy, and his port was blocked when we first got in, so it took a little longer than expected. Apparently it's common to have the ports get blocked. They first take an Xray to make sure nothing is wrong with it. If the Xray is fine, they inject TPA - the same stuff stroke patients get. It disolves the blockage and you're back in business.

Everything else went as planned. His blood work numbers look good and should remain so throughout this phase. The results also came back from last weeks 28 day bone marrow test, and they showed less than 5% leukemia cells. This was expected, but it's nice to hear, anyway.

Starting next week, we'll be switching to Tuesday appointments, so next chemo injection in his spine is in 8 days.

He's been tired a lot lately and also complains of being sore. He's slowly being taken off the steroid, and the soreness is often a side affect of last month's Vincristine. They tell us to expect him to start feeling a lot better, and we've definitely seen him begin to eat less. A few days ago he actually ate a donut. We were so excited!!! He just hasn't had a taste for sweets since he started on the steroid, so we're taking the donut as a sign that he's starting to get his old tastes back.

Jim & Lara