Tuesday Morning

Brody got hisVincristine dose yesterday... this is the drug he gets each week-- he gets the other 2 every 3rd week. The side effects of this drug is hair loss, weakness, constipation, loss of deep tendon reflexes

This is done as an outpatient visit-- he goes in, they weigh him, check his vitals, access his chest port and do a blood test- and if everything is ok, they give him his chemo by IV through his chest port. We did this yesterday-- we got there about 10:30 am and were out by about 1:15-- Brody watched some TV and some vids while we were waiting (first for the blood test to come back and then the IV).

He has been fighting us for his oral meds some of the time-- sometimes not. He has managed to keep down his first 3 doses of Bactrim (the one that gave him problems last week)-- so just 3 more to go til next week. His excuses for not taking-- "it's too much" (it is 1 1/2 tsp is alot for a kid), "I'm tired", "it might make me throw up"... it takes alot of coaxing and threats (turn off his movie or video game) sometimes... I guess he decided to give dad a break this morning and he took his Bactrim in 4 sips (one sip every 10 minutes) and he even asked to take the last one early... and just took his nystatin (swish and spit) wihout any complaints... then even went and even pooped in the potty for me (he has been wearing a diaper for accidents-- he is taking a laxative for the constipation-- he had us worried last week when he didn't go for almost 6 days.

We have been trying to get him to eat more-- he just doesn't like alot of foods anymore and seems to fill up pretty fast when he does eat... our "go to" foods are cookie crisp cereal and Raman noodles-- he likes McDonalds Cheeseburgers but decided yesterday he wants them plain now... just cheese and meat. He doesn't like Burger kings cheeseburgers but McDonalds shakes are too thick for him so we have to go to both if we get food for him when we are out-- or we get shakes at "steak and shake".

His jaw doesn't seem to be bothering him this morning- hopefully this stops bugging him.

He is still crawling around-- hurts him to fully straighten his left leg-- he has been sleeping good though. He slept well last night (11 hours straight-- first time in over a month he did that) and seems to feel very good this morning.

Trish didn't get any pictures of his easter egg hunt (around the house)-- she was carrying his nephrostomy bag around as he crawled around  (not sure why she didn't put it in his little backpack we have him use for crawling)-- the boys had a good time doing this-- they practiced for a few days ahead of time.. they will be evaluating him next week for its removal- we have celebrated the removal of each tube/wire connected to him, he is down to just the nephrostomy tube/bag (he calls it his "plug")... there were 7 thing connected to him at one point (pulse ox sensor, blood pressure cuff, heart respiratory monitor (3 wires), chest port IV, arm IV... we will be happy when he gets down to 0.

That about it...

Thanks again for all the support we have been receiving
.
 Bill