Chemo 6 - more detail than Daddy provided...

Just a quick update on how Chemo 6 went - despite it including the worst of the 5 chemo drugs he can receive, Oscar pretty much took it in his stride as usual!  What an amazing little boy.  He has been sick a few times, tired, and not really eating much at times, but considering what his little body is being put through, we are so proud of him and tell him this every day.

These sessions are so exhausting, as Oscar receives "hydration" fluids to flush his kidneys to help prevent the chemotherapy drugs damaging them (his consultant said today that his kidneys are withstanding the treatment well, which is great news).  This means he pees every 1-2 hours, for 48 hours!  So plenty of lying around watching DVDs during the day.  The younger kids find it difficult and frustrating receiving their chemotherday, due to the method by which it has to be administered.  Oscar has a central line (a rubber tube) implanted in his chest, the "bags" of drugs, fluid, platelets, blood etc are then connected to this line via long tubes on a "drip" stand.  Although this stand can be wheeled around, it is so difficult to manouvre this carefully beside a 3 year old!  The central line can hurt if it is tugged, and also can easily be pulled out as we learnt in the early days, with serious consequences!  This is another reason we encourage him to make things, paint, colour in, and watch DVDs - activities that don't require much movement!  So the first thing Oscar and me do once these tubes are disconnected, is have a race - he loves taking a big run around once he is free to do so! 

He had to get platelets on Tuesday during chemo, and he took an allergic reaction to them!  That was quite scary, within minutes of the transfusion ending he had a huge bump on top of his head, and an angry rash over his face which looked like nettle stings.  His face was puffy, his eyebrows and neck were red, and the rash spread all down his body.  However it pretty much cleared up in 30mins with some Piriton!

Another platelet transfusion again today, even Oscar's consultant said we should be encouraging everyone who can give platelets to do so, as he is "eating them up" right now!  He definitely seems to be having more transfusions that the other kids receiving treatment, however none of them are on the same intense treatment plan as Oscar...

So the plan now is to go back on Monday for more blood checks, and admission on Wednesday (hopefully) for Chemo 7.  Can believe that will be 7 out of 8 done then... HUGELY important week starting 20th February, many tests will be performed to determine whether or not he has made enough progress to allow him to move to our next stage, which will be stem cell harvest (removing some of his own bone marrow to be transplanted back to him at a later date) and surgery... But for now fingers crossed for a lovely quiet weekend at home...