Pace is good. Phase one, Induction, is over. We don’t have the actual results back from his bone marrow aspirate, but everything else is really good. He had to fast for 15 hours before the visit today, but he made up for it by eating 14 packages of Club crackers as soon as he woke up from his procedure. I swear I am not making this up.
Here’s the man on the way to the hospital:
He’s puffy faced and skinny armed and legged and his hair is falling out and he has this funny gut and he’s pale and pretty weak. He’s even found himself a walking stick to get around the house.
And here he is in his Let’s Kick This Pig shirt!
To be honest, this whole thing is heavy. I mean, I think we have a good attitude, and we are so optimistic and positive about the outcome, but every day is at least a bit of a challenge. Some days are worse than others. It’s difficult watching your child look sick and become weak. It’s not fun. Today was a tough day for the old people in this house. We don’t know why. Up yours, Leukemia.
Here’s him prepping to sing for the nurse and just looking good today:
On to phase two, Consolidation. He will have a daily chemo drug he’ll take orally, and he has one treatment of vincristine. His next three weekly visits are procedure days, meaning that they will put him under and do a lumbar puncture to test and treat his spinal fluid. He comes off the steroid that he’s been taking for 29 days, twice a day, so a lot of the puffiness and weakness he’s been feeling will start to go away, and he will look less like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Later in this phase he will probably have a week off from hospital visits, so he will go 14 days between treatments which will seem like when Andy Dufresne escaped from prison in the Shawshank Redemption.
Anyway, progress.