Day 2.

Hard to believe that we actually made it to our "long stay," as we've been calling it! Watts finished his second dose of HD ARA-C and is tolerating it okay. He is currently running a fever of 101.1 which is very common while this type of chemo is running. As long as he doesn't have a fever 24 hours after chemo finishes, apparently they aren't concerned about it. They are running blood cultures, though, just to make sure there isn't a blood stream infection is going on. He is acting pretty lethargic with the fever but we've still gotten some smiles out of him this morning. He is also nauseated and nursing very little, which is also common. Two doses down, two more to go!

 Masked up for blood cultures to be drawn.

Cuddly boy during blood cultures.

Last night we had a "sleepover" and all slept here in the room to kick-off our long stay. We ate Olive Garden (they deliver to Peds. Heme/Onc patients once a month!), walked Watts in the wagon up and down the halls, watched Wonder Pets, ate Halloween candy, and all went to bed at 8:45pm. Michael, Watts, and I were up a lot with diaper changes, chemo, eye drops, and vitals, but Piper slept through it all. One more night of chemo, then things will get a lot quieter.

Thanks for the prayers and well-wishes. We are thankful.

Awesome sunset last night.

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Here's the lowdown for those interested on what is happening chemo-wise:

Watts is getting four doses of High Dose ARA-C every 12 hours, running over 3 hours. Three hours after the HD ARA-C is finished, he will get one shot of PEG-L-asparaginase. Watts is also getting eye drops every 6 hours until 48hrs after chemo is done. These are to protect his eyes from the HD ARA-C. Twenty-four hours after his chemo finishes tomorrow, they will start the daily neupogen shots to help his WBC to recover. Other than that, we will simply be hanging out here for the remainder of the time. In order to get discharged, we need to see his counts bottom out and then recover.

Although Watts' counts usually bottom out post-chemo, there is a greater risk for high fever post-chemo with the HD ARA-C, hence the need to be admitted until his counts recover. They want to be able to start antibiotics within the hour of the first sign of high fever. THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO THE FEVER HE CURRENTLY HAS....ONLY POST-CHEMO FEVERS.