day 6, 7 & 8 of 28

First let me say, thanks for your patience. It's been a bit crazy and we are still adjusting to hospital life.

We wanted to catch you up on all the happenings over the last few days and we (mom) are going to try to post at the end of the day. It is a bit hard because some days are so full, that by the end of the day mom wants to pack up her stuff, get my dirty clothes, make a "to bring tomorrow" list and head home so she can be back here bright and early then next morning and after she leaves, I just crash.

I am in a Study Program and it has a schedule of treatment. It is called the 'Induction Phase" and it will be a 28 day schedule. I don't have chemo everyday just certain days and certain medications. So, day 1, 8, 15 and 22 of my treatment are considered my main chemo days and then on the days in between, they are testing my blood to see how the chemo is working.

These are the blood levels we are watching: NOTE: this is the medical stuff, some of you may be interested, if not, feel free to scroll down to Day 6.

• Hemoglobin: which is how much blood I have. We told you when we began I started at 4, normal being 13-18
• White blood count: which when I came in was 25.0 which was really high but it was what was keeping me going. It is also my body's ability to fight infection so now I am running around 0.5 to 0.8 which is really low. Normal is between 4.0-11.0.
• Platelet: this has to do with clotting mainly and this has to be really high on days that I have and bone marrow tests or spinal fluid test. They actually punch a hole in my bone and my platelets need to be high to insure that the hold seals off completely. Mine has been running really low in the 20's and normal is 150 to 350. For the test purposes they have to get it up to 75 which is kind of like a race because my body is eating them as fast as they are pumping them in. So, almost daily I am getting a transfusion of whole blood or platelets and that just keeps me in the 20's.
• Blood Sugar (glucose): this is really affected by the twice a day steroids that I am receiving. Steroids do a great job at keeping all of the really bad side effects of chemotherapy away and keep me feeling pretty good but they also cause my blood sugar to go really high. They manage this with insulin.  

Ok, you all have passed Tyler's Leukemia Treatment "Induction 101". I hope this helps those of you who like this kind of stuff. Feel free to email my Assistant, my mom, if you have any questions regarding this. 

day 6...

Today was a one time, treatment. This chemo was injected into both of my thighs, they applied a numbing gel and then injected both thighs with 2 injections, OUCH, Charley! It really wasn't that bad and I didn't have any reaction to them so for that I am glad, the hardest part was having to wait all day and then having it put off to the next day because they couldn't get the medication here in time. Once, that was over I was able to take a breath and kick back and rest.

day 7...

A DAY OF REST... I slept great, mainly because I knew I had nothing to do today except rest. This is what I will be doing on the days that aren't Chemo days from now on. Letting my body rest.

day 8...

the day started with a bone marrow test at 9am that was suppose to be 10am. So I missed out on having my frosted flakes and having my mom here because the test was move up (hospital time)! The test went fine, not to uncomfortable, the fluid is drawn from my hip and today they also took a bone sample. This sample will help them see how effective the current treatments are working. 

So because of the test I could not take a shower, they don't want the needle site to get wet and because they tell me I am going to lose my hair, I decided to wash it while I have it. This is how you do it without a shower.

now I know why they call it a "shower cap"

Then, the race to get my platelets up over 75 for the spinal fluid draw, which of course is done from my lower spine. They were able to get my platelets up to 76 by 2:30p, so off to radiology I went for the test. This too is really not to bad. The hard part is that the pump me full of IV fluids, perform the test and then require me to lay flat for 2 hours after the test. I pretty much slept through the 2 hours with the help of all of the preventative drugs they give me prior to both of these test. If you could listen into my room, you would hear me snoring.

my better half

Spending the night with "My Better Half" for my second round of chemo. They try to give each chemo treatment at the same time which was 10:24pm according to my mom. She was there as I slept for the first treatment and she will spending the night with me tonite. Nothing gets by her. Nothing...