Wednesday, May 19

Chemo Round 1, Day 5

Overall, today was a good day. It did have it's share of frustration; for a lot of the day it seemed no matter what I did for Collin-trying to keep him comfortable, warm, etc.-it just agitated him. He would kick me or push me, and scream and cry; it's difficult to see him like that because he was never like that at home. But I know we're not at home, and nothing is normal, and he doesn't feel well, and he can't express himself any other way. But there were lots of little victories too. During PT today, the physical therapist had Collin sitting on her lap on the floor mat and offered him some different toys. I held a ball out to him, and he picked it up with his left arm (the stronger arm) and threw it to me multiple times. He held a pinwheel in his right hand, and then transferred it to his left hand. I built a small tower of stacking cups, and when he was ready to, he knocked it over just like he loved to do at home. Then the physical therapist laid him on his left side and asked him to roll over; she wanted to see him used his stronger side. Collin fussed a bit, but then he got mad enough and instead of rolling onto his back, which would have been easier, he rolled onto his stomach and then partially onto his right side. We were amazed! A little while later, he was laying in the bed, and rolled over again, and I was so disappointed that no one was around to see it! Later, the occupational therapist brought a V- tech book in. So I sat with Collin on my lap, and the occupational therapist held the book in front of him and talked about what was on each page. Then she asked Collin if he could help her turn the page. He fussed at first, and she told him it was alright and he didn't have to do it if he didn't want to; then all of a sudden he reached out and grabbed a page. Seeing it brought tears of joy to my eyes, and I felt more hopeful by the end of the day.

I noticed a rash all over Collin, so now we are monitoring that. Of course, it could be from any number of things: medication, chemo, his blood transfusion, etc. He had a few episodes of vomiting, and during one of them I saw his feeding tube push out of his nose a little bit. It's possible that the force of vomiting can push the tube up from the jejunum into the belly, making it an NG tube; it's also possible that if the tube had moved, it could cause him to vomit. So, the nurse had another X-Ray done to make sure the tube was still where it was supposed to be; luckily it was.