Round 2

Trey went in yesterday (Tuesday) for his second round of chemo and was discharged today. This round was only 1 day in-patient, instead of 3 days like his first round. We were admitted at 3pm and he was given a saline IV for 2 hours to hydrate him, then three consecutive infusions of three different drugs: carboplatin, cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin, for those keeping score at home. After the last infusion, he got saline for 3 more hours. They finally unhooked his IV at about 3AM.


All in all, little Trey did great. He didn't show any signs of nausea or major discomfort. The worse part for him seemed to be the confinement. For the 12 straight hours he had the saline and medicine hooked up to his Broviac catheter, he couldn't be more than 2 feet from the rolling pole that the medicine hangs on. He's at the age now where he's actually pretty quick on his feet and always wants to be walking (and running) around, so this means mom and dad have to chase him around the hospital with the rolling coat rack in tow. Or we have to constantly pick him up so he doesn't pull too hard on the tube going into his chest.




















Trey amusing himself in his hospital cage, I mean, crib.


We shared a room with a nice Amish family, although they didn't speak much and when they did it was in a distinct German dialect. Their little boy was around school-age and was mostly quiet so that was a plus for us. Little Trey could get some sleep but we sure missed the private room we had last time.

So Trey now starts his second cycle, which is 21 days. While he did really well during his first cycle, we're not sure how he'll react to the drugs he got yesterday. Two of the three are new (to him) so hopefully his anti-nausea medicine works again. The doctors also said that with more cycles come the risk of becoming neutropenic, which is when the white blood cell counts drop dramatically and you become very susceptible to infection. Definitely something we will be very aware of and will do our best to limit his exposure.