Chemo - 2nd round

After a little more than a week at home, the time has come to for us check back into the hospital for round number 2 of chemotherapy. Depending on his blood counts, we will be admitted today or tomorrow. Joshua wasn't happy at the prospect of going back to the hospital, so we went to WalMart so he could pick out a toy for his prize for getting his shots all week long. He also found Transformer PJ's that he really wanted, so that was his incentive for going back to the hospital. We went to the doctor's office and everything was a go for today, so we went home to pack our bags. This time we should only be there until Saturday. On the way to the hospital Nikole wanted to say a prayer and when she asked for help for Joshua to do what his doctors say, Joshua piped up, "No I won't!"


We got all checked-in and settled in our room, it was after 8pm. Next we had to go to the treatment room to put Joshua's i.v. in his port. This was a little scary for him, but I assured him it wouldn't hurt as bad as an i.v. in his arm. They put numbing cream on his chest, but he still felt it when the needle went in and it made him cry. His pain was rewarded with a trip to the toy closet and, as you can see from the photos, he found a super cool G.I. Joe Ninja Sword set (that even makes sounds when you wave it around). By 10pm he was hungry and wanted to eat dinner, since the kitchen service was closed, I got a voucher to take to the cafeteria. When I returned Joshua was sitting in his bed with a handful of hair, there was hair on the floor and he had a sizable bald spot on the top of his head. He said, "Look mama, my hair's coming off. The germs are eating my hair." I thought he'd be more freaked out when his hair fell out, but he seemed fine when I explained to him that the medicine caused his hair to come out, but it would grow back. He started getting fussy when he said it was making him all scratchy, so I gave him a shower and scrubbed away most of his hair. He looked in the mirror and thought his head looked funny because it was all fuzzy. The reality of his disease really set in tonight, now he looks like a cancer patient.