Fifth Week of Chemo

Jeremy painting with a "spin painting machine" while waiting for his chemo. I love how they gave him a syringe to dispense the paint!

Jeremy said that Child Life (she cares for the patient's emotional well being) is like the Tree House Children's Museum! She is the one who brings art and craft projects, games, play dough and beads for his courage necklace. He really looks forward to this part of chemo.

The hardest part about radiation is leaving the house at 6:30 am for our 7:15 am appointment each day. Jeremy has said, "Why do we have to go to the doctors's in the middle of the night?" He is still cooperative about going and likes wearing his pj's every day to his appointments. Jeremy is under anesthesia for radiation because he has to hold very still and also the mask that he has to wear can feel claustrophobic. This helps make the procedure easier for him. 

Afterwards, we went over to Primary's for chemo and his checkup. Jeremy's hematocrit blood test was low (red blood cell count) so we ended up staying the day at Primary's for a blood transfusion and did not get home until 5:00 pm. Cancer cells are fast growing cells. Chemo and radiation kill all fast growing cells, not just cancer cells. Blood cells are also fast growing. That is why the red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets may be low. The doctor's watch the blood counts closely and intervene before the numbers drop too low.

The radiation and chemo (Vincristine) is causing Jeremy some jaw pain. He can not open his mouth very wide. This will continue to be painful and a problem with being able to chew. On Friday Jeremy will have a little surgery for a G-Tube (a tube placed in his stomach and will hook up to a machine for feeding). This is a relief for me, since his appetite has decreased and it is hard to get him to eat. I hope it will help with the weight loss as well.  

Everyone is friendly and nice but Jeremy is so shy he does not say a word to anyone. He will only give a shy little hand wave and a few nods when asked a question.  Dr. Holly Spraker is determined to win him over and has had some success getting Jeremy to smile, laugh, and even show her his courage necklace.

Jeremy enjoys listening to Christmas music in the car as we make our trip each day. He also looks for the Salt Lake Temple. We take Beck Street over to North Temple and we get really close to the temple each morning. Seeing the temple brings us a feeling of peace and comfort.