Cycle 1, Day -3: More chemo, more sick

Steven feels bad through most of the morning, with vomiting and diarrhea. I take Sean to school and get to the hospital around 10am, and Steven perks up. He feels pretty well for about 2 hours, moving the hospital bed into every possible position it can tolerate and some it can't, then the vomiting and diarrhea begin again.

Today Steven received cyclophosphamide, a drug that can cause damage to his kidneys, bladder, lungs and heart muscle. Overall he tolerates it pretty well. His oncologist has reduced the amount for his first cycle by 25%% to see how he does, if he is OK with it, they will give him the full dose next time.

To mitigate the effects of the cyclophosphamide, he receives mesna, a drug that protects his bladder. Late this afternoon, Steven's latest temperature shows a low fever.

If you wish to get in touch with us, our mailing address for the duration of our stay in Memphis is:

1811 Poplar Avenue #226 Memphis, TN 38104

Phone numbers: (901) 495-5412
(Steven's hospital room, until January 10 only)
(901) 545-0118 (Target House)
(858) 603-1438 (my cell)
(858) 705-3567 (Doug's cell

We aren't allowed to use our cell phones in the hospital, so they are turned off whenever we are there. We have arranged for broadband internet in our room at Target House, hopefully later this week it will be installed and we will have internet access again.

Steven's hair is just starting to grow back to the point where we can see it, but the doctors assure us it will probably be gone again before the end of the week.

Time to go, Steven's waking up.

Love, Kathleen