So far, all is good

Bottom line: Sawyer tolerated the new drug through the tense, critical first half hour when most strong reactions occur. What a relief! And then he went on to have no other problems.

 We arrived at the hospital about 9:15 am for his appointment in the clinic to get the spinal tap and administration of two other chemo drugs. That went smoothly. We also got a day-by-day schedule for the next two months. They call this last phase "delayed intensification." What's not on the schedule are the days for the rest of the shots he needs; they couldn't develop that part until they knew how the initial shot went.

 We had to wait quite awhile for a room to be ready in the pediatric ICU so we just hung out in the room in the clinic chatting, reading, checking email, etc. When he was transferred to the ICU we found out he's in the exact same room as last time, although this time when we walked in there was no bed! We were in the room for probably over an hour before one arrived. This room has a beautiful view unlike the ones in the regular unit so that's a small bonus.

 Even after the bed arrived it was a couple more hours of waiting until things got started. He got more nausea medicine since his stomach felt bad right after the initial chemo this morning. Then they prepped him with Benadryl and a steroid to help lessen a possible allergic reaction (he'll get that each time). And they got all the necessary supplies and additional meds in place in case he did react. Two nurses from the cancer unit had to come to give the shots since only nurses who have been specially trained to administer chemotherapy can actually do it. Poor Sawyer started shaking like a leaf right before the shots since he was so nervous (yes, I said shots - apparently "one dose" is actually three shots). He can pick where he gets them and decided his arms - two on the left and one on the right. Which means that overall he will be getting 36 shots instead of "just" 12.

He received the shots at 6:30 pm so it's been a long day. We (and his nurse) needed to keep him awake for the first half hour to monitor him then we could let him snooze. He's really groggy from the Benadryl. At this point we hope he can be discharged tomorrow and assume we'll come back on Friday for the next dose. It may be given in the ICU or in the clinic. We have to wait until his doctors come around and tell us what they've decided. We are very happy to have finally gotten through this appointment. It was moved so many times which just helped aid in the build-up of stress and worry. We will still be nervous through the rest of the shots since he could react to those. So keep up with your positive energy, thoughts and prayers to get us through this last big hurdle toward the end of June.