Wednesday, May 26

Chemo Round 1, Day 12

Collin had a few more episodes of vomiting last night and early this morning, so to give his stomach a break, his tube feeding was put on hold. There are many possible reasons for the vomiting, but the frequency seemed to increase over the last two days as the amount of his tube feed was increased, so if the vomiting slows down when the tube feed is on hold, there may be a correlation between the two. His Benadryl and Reglan (being used as anti-emetics, to prevent vomiting) doses were also increased, which may help as well. Around ten this morning, he was also given a low dose of Ativan to help with the nausea. He seemed sleepier during the day today, which may have been due to the Ativan. It was nice for him to have a break from the vomiting, and to see him get some rest. But I like to know the causes of things, and there are too many possible causes for the vomiting to be able to figure out, which is frustrating to me. It also seems like it would be more difficult to pinpoint a cause when multiple changes are made together. So, I'll just be happy that he had a rest from throwing up, and that I got a rest from standing at the ready with the suction, and then cleaning him up multiple times during the day.

Collin's PT had him out of bed for a short time this morning. Since he was so sleepy, she kept the session lighter, and showed me some massage techniques, which Collin seemed to enjoy. This afternoon, Collin's OT brought in some Go Fish cards, and he was happy to take them from her one by one, look at them, and then give them back to her or share them with me. For the most part, he doesn't fuss during therapies anymore; I think he is getting used to familiar faces, and has figured out that therapy time means play time. Since he was so drowsy, ST will stop by tomorrow to see if she can work with him when he is more alert.

This evening I took Collin out of bed for his daily weight, and after that I sat in the rocker and held him for a few minutes. He wanted to try to nurse, so we tried again to see how it would go. He managed to nurse for about five minutes. Unfortunately about two minutes after he was done, he coughed up mucus and the milk, but it was nice to see that he still wanted to try, because it's the only kind of oral feeding he is willing to do. When I put him back in bed, I noticed the area around his Broviac site is very inflamed. He is on two broad spectrum antibiotics due to some occasional low fevers, but I still worry about him getting an infection. If blood cultures come back showing any particular kind of infection, a more specific antibiotic can be added. I'm praying he doesn't develop an infection.