The Shannon Family -- At clinic

Hello. As Amy mentioned we made it to clinic yesterday. Nick even surprised me in the morning and let me put the emla cream (numbing cream for his port) on his skin before we left and he did not even cry. He understood he was going to clinic for the shot and maybe chemo meds. Nick is feeling more comfortable at clinic and has made a few friends. He played with Finn yesterday (another boy with ALL-T-cell), while I got to make ask many questions to his mom about the treatment and side effects she has seen with Finn. It comforts me to meet other people with cancer and learn how they are handling treatment with their child. I was very excited to see Nick's counts up so well in just two days. The first thing they always do at clinic is draw blood...this is what starts our day and determines if we can move with chemo meds or wait another couple days to continue. We are behind 1 week with the chemo meds but still up to date with the shot (5 down, 25 to go). I really think we have been lucky so far and have not seen too many side effects from all the chemo and shots. We expect to see him lose some muscle mass (that is the purpose of getting the shot in the leg, it is a protein blocker) in the next couple of weeks and he does complain about bright lights. The doctors seem to think that when kids lose their eyelashes, their eyes become more sensitive to light. I am not sure if I buy that one... I think it has something to do with the chemo or maybe the radiation. Nick does not complain a lot about pain or how he is feeling, so we try to ask him as much as we can. We hope for a good week and sick free for a little while.