Intensification Treatment 2

Well, so far this phase (1 week in) has been quite eventful. We don't like eventful. We like boring. We are hanging in there but this week has been rough, which certainly is concerning with 49 days to go. Day 1 of treatment Coop got a new drug which is designed to knock his counts down. He was pretty laid out for a few days but did bounce back quite well. He is exhausted though and has adopted a new 6:30 bedtime these days. 

Cooper's buddy definitely knows when things aren't right and camps out by his side pretty much 24/7.

Cooper did have a little time to work on that amazing Hogwarts lego for a bit once he started feeling a little better.

 Poor buddy is starting to look pale and get red circles around his eyes, which is pretty standard but does make him look sicker. 

Yesterday was bad. There's no other way of putting it. Cooper had a really long day ahead at the hospital which turned south after his second treatment. We started our day at 6am because Cooper had a lumbar puncture with spinal chemo. He is also on steroids (double what he was on during induction) and can't eat because of anesthesia. All went well with his LP, with only one meltdown about chips and snacks...seriously, this is a win. 

After his LP he was getting a drug that he has had before but sometimes they see an infusion reaction the second time the drug is administered. It is a 2 hour infusion with over an hour of observation. 

We were all good to go and within seconds of receiving the drug (only 1 ML) Cooper started to have an anaphylactic event. The nurses had to push the code button and within seconds we had a team of about 10 crammed into the room trying to make sure he was breathing and they could stop the reaction. They stopped the chemo, and gave him high dose Benadryl in his port, which essentially sedated him to bring his blood pressure and pulse down. Needless to say, it was extremely scary. 

The scariest part is that tomorrow they are going to retry the  same drug again, but they will heavily premedicate in hopes that the same reaction doesn't happen again. Now since this chemo got bumped, he will get it in addition to the other 2 he was already slated to get. So tomorrow is a triple whammy, with 2 drugs that we know don't settle well. Hopes and prayers that things go as smoothly as possible tomorrow. 

 Cooper getting ready to go in for his procedure.

 During monitoring after the code 

On the way home...this is one amazing kiddo leaving that hospital after a day like that with a smile on his face.