Wes got the surgery to insert his port this past Wednesday, and it went really well. He was admitted to the hospital immediately afterward so they could start watching his sodium levels due to his Diabetes Insipidus. That all seemed to behave. On Thursday, he received his first dose of carboplatin and etopomide. They also infused a medication to help with nausea, as well as the oral meds he’s on. Carboplatin is known for it’s nauseating effect, so they’ve been fairly aggressive on the medications to counteract that. It seems to be working so far.

So, Wes has now received two of the three total infusions he will get this round. He’s feeling pretty good, so far. He’s week and tired, but the nausea has been kept at bay. His hair will start falling out in a week to ten days. I asked him if he wanted to have another “Happy Bald Day” party, and he said he did. I’m not sure where we’ll have that or when, but I think it will help to lift everyone’s spirits somewhat.

He will have his next round beginning on May 20th. This round will be much different than this one. Wes was actually discharged from the hospital yesterday because his levels were doing so well. We did today’s infusion in the infusion center of the oncology clinic. The one tomorrow will be done in Short Stay in the hospital, but he won’t be admitted. We’ll be there just long enough for him to get his infusion, and then go home. This next round will be much more intense. Wes is going to be admitted into the PICU so they can titrate his desmopressin, which is the medication used to control his DI (diabetes insipidus). He will be receiving this medication through his port, and that is more fussy than the oral medications. In addition, the chemotherapy will be different and more intense. So, it will be 5 days inpatient in the PICU, which means a nurse will be checking on him every 2 hours around the clock. All this equals little to no actual good rest for the duration of this stay, in addition to the effects that this chemo will bring, on top of the effects of this current infusion. So, all of that should make for a very “interesting” stay. I’m trying really hard to not borrow trouble, but it seems this is going to get worse before it gets better. Isn’t that just the way of things, though? I think that holds true for most struggles.

I wanted to say thank you for all of the emails and texts that we’ve received. I’ve had Wes read all the emails, and they made him grin. Thank you for loving our boy! He’s still in good spirits. He was slightly over-dramatic when we left the infusion center today, and was acting slightly intoxicated. 😀

Please keep those prayers and positive vibes coming our way. We have felt the buoy of all of them, and will continue to need them. We still feel so blessed to have access to the medical care that Wes needs, and to have full confidence in the providers that we’re seeing. Unfortunately, that isn’t always true around the world, and I don’t take that for granted. Until next time…