Chemo: Round 2, Day 4

Still no nausea! He is taking chemo like a champ. His platelet count is now at 170,000, and the doctors are pleasantly shocked. His days are even more boring now than they were at home, but they don't even compare to the days in the hospital. He is a home based patient now, so he sits in the clinic from like 9-5 every day waiting for his chemo bags to drip into his port. He has it made there though. He sits and watches movies and plays Xbox all day, and he gets a king sized candy bar every time he goes in.

Something I completely forgot to mention a few days ago is that the doctors came back with some results from T's marrow samples. I guess they had to send his marrow to Utah to be tested because his cancer is so rare, and when the tests came back they didn't have the best news. His tumor is now trying to attack his muscles as well, so instead of only having two chemo sessions after his surgery, he will need to have six. So now he cannot go back to public school for the rest of the year. I think that news hit him really hard because he loves school and he loves his friends and his sport. The doctors said that they want him to still be a teenager, so he can go to his friends' houses if no one there is sick, and out to the movies if he wears his mask. He can't play or do active things, but he can go to volleyball practice and games to watch and be a part of the team in that way. He has started online school through Global Academy, but he doesn't like it because there is a ton of reading. I told him that if he can make it through this online school, college will be a breeze. I take an online class every semester at ASU because I need the credits and don't have time with my work schedule to physically go to another class and I hate them, so I definitely feel his pain. I think it will benefit him though because he will be such a faster reader and the college work load will be familiar to him.

One thing about this experience that is funny to me is what T complains about. He never once complained about the pain or the surgeries, but just sat there and took it quietly. Now that he's home though, he complains about everything! It is like pulling teeth trying to get him to take his medicine. He complains about the size of the pills, the taste of his drinks, the waiting period to eat after mouthwash, and the constant and monotonous noise that comes from his backpack. You would think that he would be more vocally upset about the intense pain in his body or the multiple surgeries, but no...he gripes about the pills that take two seconds to swallow. He is backwards, but that is what is amusing.

T in the Clinic:

Life at home for the weirdos: