We are over a week into Jack’s first round of chemotherapy, and the side effects have been so minimal that it almost feels too good to be true. He has honestly been handling everything so far like a champ and, of course, with a smile on his face. Even his doctors and nurses are extremely impressed with how well he has been coping with the cancer treatments, both in and out of the hospital. It almost makes the realities of his diagnosis harder to accept, as if at any moment his doctor could walk into the room and tell us that this was all a figment of our imagination.
But we all know that this is clearly not the case. Instead of hearing what I so desperately want to hear, we were told that “feeling well in the beginning is normal. Although side effects are delayed, they will still come. The first cycle is always the easiest. It only gets harder from here.”
This is not how I envisioned the beginning stages of cancer treatment would look. Although Jackson "seems" fine for now, I have to remember that he is still very sick. My heart begins to shatter again as I continue to process and accept the realities to come.
The first five days or so were quite easy for Jack. He was prescribed with several medications for us to administer on rotation to assist with pain management/nausea and to combat any incoming viruses or infections. We also met with several specialists this week (genetics, developmental pediatrics, audiology, pulmonology) who are closely following Jackson's plan of care. We are also scheduled to meet with his oncology team at St. Jude twice a week for "chemotherapy check-ins" for the duration of his cancer treatment. During each check-in, lab work is completed to ensure his blood cell counts are within a normal range and that he is staying hydrated and healthy enough to complete his chemotherapy treatment cycle. Needless to say, Jackson's treatment is keeping our family very busy with multiple appointments on a day-to-day basis, but it is all worth it to help him become healthy again.
The nausea picked up around day six, and Jack has been experiencing slight vomiting once or twice a day ever since. We were given nausea medications to administer as needed to help combat the inevitable. It is difficult to "know" when he is not feeling well, especially since he is too young to formulate the words to tell us that he is becoming sick or may be in pain. We are gradually gaining a better understanding on the cues he uses to express discomfort and erring on the side of caution.
In addition to the nausea, Jack also spiked a fever on day eight, one week after beginning chemo, so we have made a few additional visits to St. Jude over this past week so that they could obtain blood cultures and administer additional antibiotics via his IV port to fight off any potential infections. Thankfully this kept us from being admitted into the hospital again!
His red blood cell counts, white blood cell counts and platelet levels have all looked great based on his lab work from this week, and we will continue to monitor how his body is coping and adjusting to the drastic treatment next week. As long as his levels remain in a normal range, we will begin round two of chemotherapy on Thursday, January 30th. As always, prayers and well wishes are greatly appreciated.
