A rough but productive day at the clinic

Sawyer woke up yesterday feeling better and was definitely more animated than the day before. But as we approached Strong Memorial in the morning for his appointment, his mood became noticeably more stoic and sullen. He said he associates the sights and smells of Strong with unpleasant experiences (no surprise there).

After completing the standard intake process (weight, blood pressure and temperature) we were moved to a treatment room right across from the nurses station. Sawyer's face and neck were very red and because of this Dr. Mullen asked for blood work before administering chemo. Sawyer's mood was not helped when both ports in his chest would not draw blood (that meant he was poked twice in the chest), then an attempt to draw blood from his right arm failed, and finally after a fourth attempt his left arm produced the needed blood.

One hour later, it was reported that all his blood levels were normal; he started his pre-chemo prep about 1pm and finally had the three chemo shots administered at1:40pm. In case you're keeping track at home, this leaves a grand total of seven needle sticks for the day. 

Once again, Sawyer seemed to tolerate this replacement chemo fairly well. At 2:30 he had a brief bloody nose which prompted the doctor to request additional blood work to make sure his platelets were okay. Platelets help with blood clotting so the spontaneous nose bleed led to concerns that he might need a transfusion. Blood was drawn from one of his ports (which eventually cleared) and at 3:30 it was reported that all of his levels were fine and that he could go home. This may have been the first and only time he smiled all day. The good news is that he's tolerating the replacement chemo quite well, the not-so-good news is that he gets to do pretty much the same thing again on Wednesday, Friday, next Monday and Wednesday. (Then all over again, six more times, two weeks after that).

He's on a daily chemo pill at home for a little while as well and that has been bothering his stomach and making him pretty tired. We're trying to make sure he keeps eating throughout the day to combat some of the nausea; right now his go-to dish is macaroni and cheese with some pulled pork mixed in. He's also eating yogurt everyday since that seems to help as well.