Yesterday was Nick's last spinal for his protocal of ALL T-Cell. I have mentioned before how much he has gone through and what a great child he is. He was great yesterday during clinic and only asked a few times for food. It was a long day for us, Nick was up at 6am and he did not have his procedure until noon. He could not eat before his procedure so basically the last time he ate was 6pm the night before. The procedure went smoothly and the fluid looked clear dripping out of his spine. We do not have pathology reports yet, but we remain optismistic everything is ok. When everything was done, Nick was snoozing and Greg & I just looked at each other.... We both know,it feels great on one hand to think no more chemo will be injected into his spine but then you think.... is that okay? Could he relaspe? Nick knows he is almost at the end of his treatment but I try to be careful in telling him he will 'never' have this done again. Greg & I are just not there yet.
He woke up quickly after the procedure and felt a little dizzy, but still tried to play his DS right away. We promised him lunch on the way home and we stopped at a small Italian restaurant with patio seating. Luckily Nick chose to sit outside and enjoy the warm weather. He did mention he felt like throwing up and then he was okay. His food came and after a few bites he did throw up... good thing we were outside. After that he said he felt better and continued to eat half his meal. This has happened to us before and I just think it is a combination of the chemo, his sleepy medicine and the fact he likes to get up right away after the procedure and leave.
He is back in school today and looking forward to seeing his friends. It will be interesting if he tells them about his day yesterday. His story usually goes like this: "I was not in school today because I had to get sleepy medicine so the doctor can stick a needle in my back. I know this because I always find a band aid on my back when I wake up." Another round of steroids start this week along with 6MP. We hope to enjoy this weekend with the great weather and Nick sleeping over at Papa Boston's house. Karen

Great Weekend and It is that time again

Hello All,
We have a wonderful long weekend with the family and friends. Colby had his first football game and Nick will start baseball this week. We enjoyed having some friends over on Saturday night, 4-wheeling, and smores by the bonfire. Monday we took advantage of the sunny weather and headed to the beach for the day. The waves were great and Nick and Colby ditched their boogy boards for body surfing. My sister and he kids joined us and we had a fun time.
Tomorrow Nick is scheduled for his spinal (lumbar puncture). He receives this procedure every 18 weeks and I can not believe how fast the last 18 wks have gone by. This is positive for us because we are moving further out to acheiving our goal of being off treatment. It will be a long day for us. We go to clinic to access his port, get his counts down. He will receive Vincristine through his port and steroids and Methotrexate through his spine. We go down to the PICU recovery floor and can watch the procedure. The doctor will also take a sample from his spine and send it off to pathology to check for any leukemia cells. We usually have the answers back that day but could be on Thursday. Nick is not a big fan of getting his 'sleepy' medicine and always wakes up right away. They like to have him lie down for 30minutes after the procedure is down but he is usually up and telling us it is time to leave 15 minutes after he is done. We'll take him to lunch and then home to rest for the day. Since this is a start of a cycle he will also start 5 days of steroids and 6MP at home. Hoping tomorrow goes okay.
I forget how easy it is talk about the day tomorrow. Nick has endured over 12 of these procedures in the past 2 years, while on chemo, taking steroids, through radiation treatments and he can still have a smile on his face after we leave the hospital. Greg and I will be anxious tonight and go through the motions with Nick tomorrow but the constant worry will be there until we actually have the tests back.