Sat, 26 Jul 2003

Last day of chemo

Hey there. It's Sat morning and I'll be on my way to the hospital soon but thought I needed to give an update. What a whirlwind the last five days have been. Ups and downs as with everything. Today will be the last official day of chemo. This has been some incredibly large doses of chemo. He has gained a lot of water weight (10-13 lbs) and they have him on diuretics (along with a million other drugs known to man).

There's so much information, I'm not sure where to begin. That is obviously compounded with my low mental capacity due to minimal sleep. I spend mornings and evenings with Garrett but the other eight to nine hours in the day I'm with Jade in his room.

Ok, let's see. The first two days (Tues/Weds) weren't too bad. He was fairly "up" and talkative and trying to make the best of being confined in his little room. These last couple days the chemo is zapping him more and he's less talkative/energetic and has more frequent moments of "zoning out." He's sleeping ok but not fantastic. Chemo + little sleep = very tired person. He definitely has nausea but hasn't lost it totally yet. They are worried about his eating (me too, that hospital food is nasty - - I've had some.) He is getting 1600 calories a day and they want him to double that. They were going to start a feeding tube today if his caloric intake wasn't high enough yesterday. It's hard enough to find something that sounds good at home while on chemo but there at the hospital it's even harder. Unfortunately I can't even take any outside food into him.....believe me I've tried to push them. Jade has lots of routines he has to do - - such as rinsing his mouth out with three different liquids/medications four times a day and after every meal since they are trying to help prevent the inevitable mouth/throat/esophagus sores which will show up next week. They are doing strict monitoring of his kidneys and bladder given the past history with these drugs (at half the dose as this week). So far so good but the next couple days (as all the toxins leave) will be just as tenuous.

Garrett was allowed to go see Jade on Thursday and both of them loved the visit. Jade tickled him and Garrett pushed his stroller around the room. They talked on the phone this morning and Garrett just smiled and said "yeah" and jabbered a lot.

Monday will be Stem Cell day and that's good. We'll get the ugliness of next week over and get on the other side of this half of the transplant. Jade and I remain optimistic and encouraged. Given everything, his BMT doctors are pleased with how he's tolerating it so far. Thanks for your faith, prayers, cards, emails/ecards, and phone calls. We are in awe of how much you have all done in our behalf. Thank you. We'll keep you posted and thanks again.....

Much love and hope.....................Tanya and co.