William is officially halfway through his initial 6 rounds of chemo! Big hoorah! But he couldn't be more tired. Or at least I can't imagine how much more tired he could be.
Looking and caring for William the past two days made me really feel like I am the mom of a child with cancer. I know that sounds weird given what we've all been doing the past 2 months. I guess what I mean is I felt today what I previously imagined the parents of cancer patients feel like in Lifetime movies or St. Jude's commercials. William has tolerated his treatments reasonably well with not too many ill side effects up to this point. And even this cycle has gone well considering the nausea has been managed with medication. However, the past couple days William has been barely strong enough to get out of bed and go to the bathroom. He has slept well into the afternoon, his pale and frail little body curled up and his arms often wrapped around his head. I sit and watch him, sometimes holding his hand. He lays there with his eyes closed, sometimes asleep and sometimes awake, just too tired to open his eyes or move. There was nothing I could do but just stay near him, anxiously waiting for him to need me.
The doctor decided to keep him longer at the hospital to give him additional fluids to keep him hydrated and to continue to flush the chemo out of his body. We also had to wait for him to wake up enough to eat and drink and then keep it all down. He finally perked up around 2 PM and I convinced him to take a walk to the playroom. By 4 PM he was eating a bowl of Crispix and talking (always a sign this little guy is feeling better)! The nurse in charge of discharge said it was up to us if I felt comfortable taking him home, (I always do) but wanted to wait a couple hours to make sure he tolerated the food. We had a nervous moment as William started feeling a little queasy, but we gave him some more Zofran and he was okay. We had our marching orders at 7 PM and we hurried out! (Of course I was all packed and ready to go before we had the official okay!)
We are SO HAPPY to be home. We are thoroughly exhausted and can't wait to get some much needed sleep. So please don't call us in the morning!
No comments:
Post a Comment