Day 1: Procedures and 1st day of Chemo

This day also began early, earlier than they day before actually. Around 4am blood was drawn to determine if Cristian would need any blood treatments prior to his surgery. As this is a blood cancer, there are several ways that your blood may need assistance in order to successfully make it through something traumatic like surgery.

When results came in it was determined that platelet count was low which increases his risk of excessive bleeding. To correct this issue for the surgery he was given platelets via IV prior to surgery.

By 9am we were headed to the IR area of the hospital. Here we met with the anesthesiologist who went over some medical background information and discussed what she would be doing. We then met with another surgeon who would installing his “port”. The entire process was estimated to take about 2 hours.

With the 3 operations Cristian was set to have, he was given an general anesthetic. By the time he left the room the meds had started to take effect and he was a little loopy laying in the hospital bed.

The next we saw Cristian was about 2.5 hours later while he was in a recovery room. The procedures had gone according to plan and they were waiting for Cristian to wake up as the anesthesia wore off. We made sure that we were at his bedside when he first opened his eyes along with some of his favorite toys. After about 30 minutes Cristian was half awake and trying to play with his toys. We were then transported back to the room.

Prior to the surgery we were told that Cristian would be groggy the rest of the day and sleep a lot. This turned out to be the case. Once Cristian did was up he was hungry and thirsty and even used the bathroom, all very good signs. He did have some swells which was a result of the operations and the high amount of fluids which were being administered to him. Even knowing this would happen, it was more than we expected.

Having Cristian sit upright, as well as urinating both helped to begin to reduce the swelling in his face. Some of the swelling did more to his hands, legs, and feet but overall he was looking much better by the time he fell asleep (as I’m writing this post).

As the day turned to night time it was time to remove the IV from his arm and begin using the port which was installed during the day. This was great because his IV was installed in his elbow crease and prevented him from using his right arm. The removal was a little painful and he did bleed a little longer than expected, but after a few minutes the pain had subsided and the bleeding stopped.

Now utilizing the port it was time to do his first dose of chemo. Technically he did receive a dose of chemo during the spinal tap earlier in the day, but this was his first done via the port. Luckily Cristian didn’t have any negative reactions and was asking for more food and liquid shortly there after as he played with his toys in the hospital bed.

Later that evening the nurse stopped by to drop off his night meds. Tho consisted of the liver protecting drug that he has been receiving 3 times a day since admission, as well as his evening dose of steroids and antacid. Needless to say it took much patients and coaxing to get our 4 years old to take all these meds, but by bedtime he had taken them all and kept them down.

The next 2 days we are planning on monitoring his vitals and continuing his new medicine regiment. We are also watching his temp very closely as any fever over 100.4 will require us to stay in the hospital for the initial 28 days.

If no fever then we should be able to go home on Monday! We are very much looking forward to having him at home where he can relax and play with his little sister.