The effects.

Let me start by saying that the chemo Ashton is receiving is very potent stuff. He got admitted Tuesday at 3pm and started chemo at about 7:20. They first had to hydrate him enough to be able to tolerate chemo. He then got a push (syringe) of Vincristine--which is very constipating--but it is the one chemo he has had before. Immediately after that he started a 6 hour dose of Cisplatin which is the scary one. Its side effects are nausea and hearing loss...among others. That ended around 1:30 in the morning. Right after that they gave him more fluids at a faster rate to flush the drugs out of his system because they can cause kidney damage. It was nice that he slept through all of that but the next day, Wednesday, you could really tell he was feeling the effects. He slept almost the whole day and when he was awake he would just lay in bed watching T.V. He hardly spoke at all. He did wake up for a couple of hours around 6 last night and watched a few episodes of John and Kate plus 8. I think that kept his interest because the kids are all his age. Anyway at 7:20 he started another chemo called Cyclophosphamide. This one was just given over an one hour time span. This one also has to be flushed out because it can cause bladder irritation. He threw up for the first time after receiving that one. I could tell he was feeling nauseated for a while before. There was a tiny amount of blood in it which worried me, but the nurses said it was OK. So, he receives the Cyclophosphamide again tonight and we stay over again, which wasn't expected, but it's all because of when he started on Tuesday. I guess we should be coming home tomorrow but Ashton needs to be eating and holding his food down before they will let him go. I forgot to mention that he has not had anything to eat since we have been here. That will make it a bit hard to see if he can hold food down....I'm thinking they will have to put the feeding tube back in him which will be a huge ordeal because they won't put him to sleep to do it. I am just dreading it. Also, and this might be a little too much information, but Ashton hasn't pooped in 5 days. This is not a good thing. We are trying to give him laxatives but since he isn't drinking much its a bit of a challenge. They don't want him to get constipated and strain because that could cause a tear in which bacteria could enter his body. That is the biggest threat to him, his own bacteria, not colds or sickness from others.

The latest issue going on is his sodium is on the low side. The are giving him some now in his I.V. The worry with sodium is that if it gets dangerously low it can cause him to have a seizure. They are taking care of that so I'm trying not to worry about it.

Basically this stuff is making my little guy feel pretty icky. He is quietly watching spongebob right now and is definitely not his usual self. I have tried to explain to him that the medicine he is getting is making him feel this way but the medicine will make him better pretty soon. I wonder how he processes that information, it must be so confusing. It still hits me hard sometimes that we are even going through this and that this is my life. Pat and I were sitting here yesterday just not believing that we are at Stanford right now with Ashton because he is getting Chemotherapy and has cancer. It still sometimes comes as a shock.

Carter and Cassidy will be coming to visit tonight and I'm hoping that will perk Ashton up and maybe he will smile for a tiny while. Please continue to think of him and I will try to update when I can.