Another one down

We were glad to say goodbye Monday to another chemo med Brayden won't have to have again. This one's been kind of ugly to him and came with some side effects that he wasn't happy about. Thankfully this Monday in clinic was a lot better than the previous weeks'. We enjoyed playing several games and I remembered the Easy Mac so hopefully him eating helped a bit. Brayden did so great doing schoolwork in the car on the drive down. He did the pre-hydration, then 2 chemo meds, then the 2-hr post-hydration once at ACH. Once he got the second anti-nausea med, he was drowsy. It amazes me how he likes the sedation 'dizzy' medicine but not these that give him that feeling or the Benadryl he took afterward. It actually makes him a little mad because he can't stay awake and it makes him dizzy. I kept thinking how nice a Benadryl sounded after not enough sleep and the long drive and another day of waiting in the Infusion Room for treatment! Thankfully he was able to get some good sleeps on the drive back home. And then woke up and realized he was on steroids and had missed a couple of meals! So he did some making up for that at home before finally giving in to bed.

This morning and all day he's not been himself. He's been so pale the last two days we thought for sure he'd need blood. Thankfully his counts were all okay...they'd definitely dropped, but not to that level of being nervous. His eyes look different today and he's not been as peppy. He's eaten well and gotten lots to drink but he's hurting a lot today. Of course, he refuses to take anything. He's felt nauseated so we've kept the Zofran going all day. Tonight we had to move to Nausea med #2. I tried reassuring him it would help him feel better AND he could get some sleep. It took a while but after some back rubs, he finally settled in. I could tell he was hurting. We've heard that's common with this chemo he's had now 3 weeks in a row. Days like today are tough. It makes you want to hide away from real life (school, work, responsibilities) and just curl up and love on him and do nothing. It's so infuriating because I push through and encourage him too and we both keep going in hopes it keeps some kind of normalcy. Then when things are quiet, I just don't know how we will do it again tomorrow. But we get up and keep going.

We'll have to stay a couple nights in Little Rock coming up. I'm really nervous about these next 2 weeks. I've referred to it before. This is the last round of these 2 chemo meds that have given Brayden the most trouble in previous treatments. Cytoxin and Ara-C are begin Monday and he'll have to be admitted and monitored for kidney function. It's got a positive side, as this plans to be Brayden's last admission to AR Children's Hospital for chemo. Going forward, all chemo for the next 3 years can be administered in Clinic! We'll try to stay focused on that to get us through. We're praying for Brayden's protection and thankfully with being on steroids, he'll be strong going into this tough round. He'll have chemo daily Monday thru Thursday next week and the following week as well. This is the one that can cause him to be Neutropenic and having been in Strict Isolation for nearly 4 weeks, that will be a bummer going into the holidays. More than anything though, we just pray he continues to be protected. We're praying he's protected from the harmful effects of this chemo round and stays strong, that his counts hold up and he's protected spiritually and emotionally as well. Thank you all for your sweet comments and encouragement. It's been a rough few days personally and those have been such a comfort. Here's praying tomorrow is a better, brighter day all the way around.