Clinic Tuesday

Clinic went as expected today. So many have commented to me recently that you really cannot tell he has any sort of ailment based on the way he looks or acts. This is true for most of the day now. Recently, we had to decrease his dosage on one of his meds. His immune system was getting too weak and so I went from giving him chemo pills at home twice a day, to once a day. Wow, what a difference that change made! He started to get his strength back and was feeling pretty normal aside from some lingering body aches.

I will say that I have been amazed at how great he has been feeling recently. It is to the point that I asked the doctor today, "Are we certain we are doing enough?" He assured me that for now, our goal is for the scans scheduled for September 25 to come out clean to confirm remission. We are assuming at that point, however, that while there is no detectable disease left, that there are some undetectable lingering disease cells in his body that the high dosage chemo in transplant will then eliminate. Once his brother's immune system wakes up and takes control of his body, the idea is for the new immunity to attack any future cancer cells that may have been left dormant. It's like a double dosage of defense for him over his lifetime. Science is incredibly fascinating. It's just a shame that it confuses me so much.

The October 18 date for admission into the hospital still stands. They are suggesting we pull him from school about 2 weeks prior so we can start running a gamut of tests on him to ensure everything in his body is strong enough and working properly, and also to minimize any possibility of him getting sick prior to transplant. His last day of school would likely be on or around October 4.

Until then, life proceeds as "normal." Just yesterday, I walked into N coaxing his brother to eat the booger perched on his finger because it's filled with protein that makes you get huge muscles. This morning, I caught him telling the same brother that my eyelash curler was a machine that can cut your wee wee off. What's even more outrageous, though, is the look in middle brother's eyes in both those scenarios that fully read, "I believe you."

As much as I cannot ever really understand boys of any age and how those wheels turn, I will take outrageous normalcy any day!

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