Day 3

It's 8:30AM. I just got back from walking Ian down to radiology where he's having an implanted port (port-a-cath) surgically placed into his chest which has a catheter which run into a large vein and down to his upper port of his heart. This will allow for his IV in his arm to be removed which will be much easier on him. It's also the port which will be used from this point on to administer his chemo treatments, IVs, and withdraw blood. Ian was scared. He said he wanted the doctors to go away. They gave him some medicine to calm him down and then they took him from me. Listening to him scream in fear is by far the worst part of this. He wants mom or dad by his side. They quickly put him under and he won't remember a thing. Now I'm just sitting in the room alone waiting for this to be finished.

This is the port-a-cath. The smaller silver one is what was placed inside Ian.

One of the doctors came by. They need more marrow from him. I had to sign, yet another, consent form for them to perform a second bone marrow aspiration for DNA testing.

Ian will also receive a spinal tap in which they will check his spinal fluid and perform the first chemo treatment to his spinal fluid. I can't believe this is happening.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_marrow_aspiration
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/bone-marrow-aspiration-and-biopsy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_tap

Ian playing with one of his many presents from friends and family after receiving his spinal tap and implanted port. Both hands are now free to play Lego Star Wars II. He's an addict!

It's 4:20. The Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist just came in with a group of nurses and social worker to discuss the findings throughout the day. The good news is that they could not find any obvious leukemia cells in his spinal fluid. The better news is that we will probably be out of here on Sunday or Monday. His chemo treatments will start this evening. Sounds like the next 28 days will involve a lot of drugs and tests.

One of the things chemo does is kill off a lot of good blood cells which will reduce his immune system. I hope you all can understand that visitors should be kept to a minimum. Absolutely no sick kids or adults can even come to this floor in the hospital. We would like to thank you for your willingness to visit but also thank you for your understanding that we want to keep Ian as far away from outside sicknesses as possible.

From the tests performed on his bone marrow, the oncologist feels there is at least two pounds of leukemia cells in his body. WHOA! Apparently, this is average for a patient like Ian. Within the first couple of weeks most of that should be killed off. He will have a lot of side affects but are necessary for his getting better. After we are allowed to take him home we will have to return to the hospital 3 times a week (minimum) to have more drug treatments and bone marrow samples taken. Good thing I work close by so I can come here for those short appointments. It also helps that I have the coolest boss in the world who will work with me on this.

I'm adding a poll with some common facts we're learning about leukemia. Check back often and take it. You might learn something.

The drugs Ian is on is making him super moody. "Mom tell the doctors to go away!"