Charlie had his second round of chemo in phase 3, Interim Maintenance, on Friday. The picture shows oncology nurse Amy flushing out his mediport. Charlie had a huge developmental step forward and even pushed the syringe with her. He is usually screaming his head off whenever anyone touches his "tubies" or his body for that matter so we were very pleased. During this phase we go into clinic and Charlie has his blood levels checked. If his ANC is 750 or greater then they increase his chemo dosage from the week before. If it is 500-749 then they give him the same amount of chemo as the week before. If he is less than 500 then he doesn't get any medicine and we have to wait 4 days and try again. The medicine takes about 30 minuets to drip into his IV, during that time he can take his IV pole and go to the playroom, watch movies or do art projects with the facilitators on staff. It is a much more enjoyable experience for him then the previous phases where he was put under general anesthesia to administer his treatment.
Charlie's ANC (immunity level) was 1658 this week which is excellent! and he can continue going to pre-school two days a week. He is more prone to catching colds and general viruses while at school, but the benefits far outweigh those risks. They do fun things at school like piano lessons, water day and Movie day during the summer session. Charlie has so much energy even on the chemo that the two days a week help to burn off the extra hyperness. The teachers stress good hand washing to help keep the germs at bay. When he drops to 750 or below we may not send him class, it depends.
