My First Round of Chemo

Wagon Rides at the hospital. Time to Rest. It is not so bad here.



Me and My Port. My First Chemo Treatment.


Welcome Home Drew!

Drew's first chemo treatment went as well as can be expected. We took him in on Tuesday at 9:00. The process is long and there is a lot of waiting. Usually the process will start with a eye exam under anesthesia, however, they performed this last week so we were spared that experience. They weighed him and got him admitted. They needed to access his port, which was a painful experience to watch as a parent. It took three people to hold him still, while they inserted the needle into his port. It did not hurt him, however, he does not like to be held down. In the future, his port will be accessed while he is under anesthesia. Once the needle is in the port, the worst was over.

Each hospital visit they draw blood from the tube that hangs from the port, so it is an easy process. They check his white cell counts (fights infections in the body), red cell counts (responsible for carrying oxygen through the body), hemoglobin (shows much oxygen the red blood cells are able to carry), neutrophilis (white blood cells that fight bacterial infections) and platelet counts (help stop bleeding in the body by forming clots). These are the key indicators of how Drew will react to chemo. When the white cells are low, there is a high risk of infection. Common signs of infection are a fever, redness, swelling or pain. If Drew has a fever of 100.5 he will be admitted into the hospital and antibiotics will be given to him. If the the red blood cell count is to low Drew will need a blood transfusion. Common signs of low red cell count are being tired, short of breath, headache, fast heart rate, pale skin or dizziness. These are hard indicators to determine on a baby, since he can not tell us how he feels. If Drew's platelets are low there is a risk of bleeding. Signs of low platelets will be bruising, bleeding from the nose/gums/or port that does not stop in 10 minutes, black stools or vomiting.

We waited to talk with the Oncologist, because she was doing her rounds. Dr. Steiner came in around 12:00, and unfortunately Drew was having a complete melt down. He was tired, hungry and sick of people pocking at him. She was kind enough to come back once he was fed and asleep. Dr. Steiner reviewed Drew's Chemo Treatment with us. Drew will be administered three types of drugs each visit. The hope is there will only be six treatments over six months. The drugs are given in this order:

Vincristine: The purpose of this drug is to destroy or control the growth of cancer cells. This is given through the port IV and only takes two minutes. They call this a push drug. Common side effects are tingling, numbness or burning of hands/feet, muscle weakness, blurred vision, jaw pain, constipation, fever, fatigue and temporary loss of hair. Drew will probably lose his hair in the next 7-10 days.

Carboplatin: This drug also destroys and controls the growth of cancer cells. It is given through his port and takes 1 1/2 hours. Common side effects are lowered platelet counts, nausea and vomiting. Less common is lowered white cell counts, diarrhea or change in kidney functions.

Etoposide: This drug also destroys and controls the growth of cancer cells. It is given through the port and takes 2 hours. This drug is repeated the second day in the hospital, 20 hours after the first dose. Common side effects are low white cell/red cell/platelet counts, lose of hair and loss of appetite. Less common are low blood pressure during infusion, nausea, vomiting and mouth sores.

The chemo for every patient in the hospital is made by one pharmacist. The chemo cannot be pre-made, because dosage varying based on weight. The oncologist must sign off on the dosage, so after we met with Dr. Steiner the chemo was ordered. Since there is only one pharmacist, it takes forever to get the chemo. Drew did not start his chemo until 8:30 pm on Tuesday. This was a blessing, because he slept through the first treatment.

Drew is feeling pretty nauseous from the chemo. He is tired and looks pretty pale. We need to wake him every two hours to change his diaper, so the chemo exposed through his urine does not burn his skin. We must wear gloves when doing this, so we are not exposed to toxic chemo. Wednesday and Thursday they gave him lots of medicine to help. He was drinking milk, but wasn't eating any solids. This is very common for kids to feel this way for 2-3 days after a treatment. He ran a fever of 100 on Wednesday. They were able to treat it with Tylenol.

Thursday they ran some additional tests on his blood counts. Apparently his hemoglobin has always been low. This is a sign Drew could be anemic. This is not related to the cancer or treatment. He was probably born this way, and will just need to be monitored throughout life. He may need an iron supplement. We will get the test results Monday.

We were able to bring him home on Thursday. Everyone is very happy to have him home. The comforts of home help a lot. We continue to change his diaper every two hours, get him to eat when we can and hold him a lot.

Today is not a good day for him. He is feeling very sick and will not eat or drink. He is extremely tired from being woken up every two hours. It is very hard to watch him feel this way. We want to kiss it and make it better, but it is out of our control. All be can do is love him, hug him and hope he feels better soon.