Day One

This has been such a looooooooong day, but we feel a sense of peace now that the chemotherapy has started and we are on the path to recovery.  We have an idea of how each infusion will go and we'll gradually become comfortable with it as it is our new normal.

We left the house at 5:30am to get to Egleston for a 7am check-in time.  His surgery to place the port and have a bone marrow sample was scheduled for 9:40am.  We were a little delayed because it is quite a process from getting to pre-op and having him wheeled to the OR.  A nurse comes in to check his vitals, then the anesthesia nurse comes in to discuss giving him medicine to relax him.  Follows is the surgeon's physician assistant, the actual surgeon, the child life expert, the anesthesiologist, the oncologist, and the oncologist's physician assistant.  There is no possible chance of not understanding what they are about to do!  The surgery itself took about an hour and then he was in recovery for an hour before he was moved to his room in the Aflac Cancer Center.

He was/is in a bit of pain but was completely  happy watching Toy Story and then playing with puzzles on an ipad.  We agreed for Jake to be in a study where his treatment protocol would be randomly determined.  He would either get the normal chemo treatment consisting of 5 drugs, or he would receive the same 5 plus another drug called topetecan.  Jake was randomly chosen to receive the normal 5 drug treatment which means that our first stay in the hospital is only two days. 

At 6pm he began chemotherapy. The nurse came in wearing a hazmat type gown, mask, and gloves to administer the drugs into his IV.  I had no idea what to expect as far as chemo goes, but it is apparently some really potent stuff that they're using!  He received 3 drugs today via an IV drip into the new port,  The first drug took 5 minutes, the second took 15 minutes, and the last took an hour.  Both before and after the infusions he has have a saline drip to keep him very hydrated because one of the drugs will irritate the bladder if it sits in it for long.  Because of this, Jake is basically a peeing machine.  (Too much information?  LOL)  Speaking of pee, we now have to take special care of his during chemo and 48 hours after.  They have been studying the effects of chemo drugs and have found that as the drugs are flushed from the system they vaporize from his pee and can be inhaled if you are nearby.  So, we have to wear gloves and a mask to take him to the bathroom and then cover the seat with a plastic pad to be sure the toilet doesn't release the chemicals as it flushes.  You learn something new everyday.  You're welcome.  :-)

I would say that our "Day One" was not too bad, and I pray that as we endure this first roller coaster of treatment and that it continues to be alright.  We won't know for sure how his body will respond or how long it will take him to recover his blood counts until close to the next treatment.  We have been told to expect him to begin losing hair in about a week but that the symptoms of nausea and vomiting should be under control from some medications that we've already been given.

We know that today's success is largely attributed to all of the prayers that are being sent up for Jake and for us.  We can't thank you all enough for taking the time to think of us and pray for us while we endured our "Day One." We did it and are in good spirits.  On that note, I'm going to sleep.