Monday, October 18 - Day +5

Collin's fever has continued to come and go since my last blog entry; this afternoon it was 103.5. The mucositis is ugly. He continues to have diarrhea, and despite being changed as soon as he goes and being slathered with heavy-duty diaper cream, his poor little bottom is so red and sore that when I go to change his diaper, he shakes his head and says "no." Unfortunately today he had a number of episodes of vomiting mucus, and we have to suction his mouth out when he vomits to help get the mucus out. Tonight when I did his mouth care I saw that the inside of his mouth was bleeding, and almost looked like it was peeling. He is not able to eat anything by mouth because it hurts too much, so he is getting IV nutrition. His fast growing cells are definitely being sloughed off, which also means that the tiny bit of peach fuzz hair and eye lashed that have started to come in will fall out soon. Yet despite obviously feeling pretty crappy, Collin still manages to smile and play every so often. He is so incredibly strong, and I am continuously in awe of him. As I type this entry, Collin is resting peacefully with the help of Morphine, Benadryl, and Ativan, so I am going to take advantage of that and get some rest myself.

Collin turned 22 months old today!