Monday, July 19

Chemo Round 3, Day 17

This morning Collin played on my bed with Bill and Neya while I got myself ready for the day. He and Neya were playing with the iPad, and Collin decided to groove to the music of one of Neya's favorite games. When I saw him, I grabbed my phone and filmed him. He was so funny!

The outpatient physical therapist was very pleased with Collin's progress today; it's been about ten days since she has seen him. He did very well pulling himself up to stand, standing (with assistance), and was very eager to walk (also with assistance). In fact, he had so much fun walking, he had a little tantrum when it was time to leave!

At his clinic appointment, he received his last dose of Vincristine; it was the last chemo drug in this third round of treatment, and the drug isn't included in any of the future rounds of therapy. His blood counts are low, and his hemoglobin level is low enough that we will need to return to the clinic tomorrow for another blood transfusion. I don't know quite how I'm going to keep Collin occupied in the little curtained infusion area for four hours tomorrow while he is given the packed red blood cells; I can't carry enough toys to keep him busy for that long! The nurse also warned me to pack a suitcase because now that his counts are so low, if he develops a fever at home, or while he is receiving the blood tomorrow, he'll be readmitted to the hospital for a few days. Our things are already packed and ready to go, so hopefully that means we won't need them. Like Bill says, be prepared for the worst but hope for the best! It looks like Collin will be readmitted to the hospital for the fourth round of chemo on August 2; I'm hoping we'll be home by August 30, Neya's first day of first grade!