Back to the clinic for chemo and CBC!

We were back at the clinic today to check counts. It was a horrible clinic visit. They were so slow and what should have taken minutes, turned into hours. I am extremely exhausted with a migraine. Payton received his 2nd-to-last outpatient chemo, one more to go and we will be done. I will not miss that clinic at all. Payton’s counts were trending down and he still hasn’t reached his nadir, so we need to be really cautious and keep him isolated, since he will be most susceptible to anything in the next few days. When they were de-accessing Payton’s needle he was bleeding a lot. I looked at the nurse and said, is this normal? I found it odd, since I have never seen it bleed like that. She acted concerned as well. I want to make sure that we don’t have any accidents or falls at home since his platelets are low. They also put Payton on an antibiotics for his bottom. We will be back to the clinic on Friday to check counts and to see if we need any transfusions.

We got back the results of Payton’s Echo/EKG today. Payton’s Echo was fine, but his QT level on his EKG, was a little high. Normal levels are below .44 and he was .46. They want to do another EKG in the next few weeks and also test his electrolyte levels. It basically means that there is a longer interval between the “Q” and “T” wave points- shown on an electrocardiogram or heart monitor. This shows how long it takes for the heart to return to “normal” after contracting and pumping blood through the body. I am trying not to worry about this, but it’s hard especially for me since I am such a worry wart about everything and also since I know that the chemo drug Doxorubicin can cause heart damage. Please continue to pray for Payton that the treatments will be effective and that he won't suffer any serious long term affects.
The silver tray. The silver tray is used when they have to access Payton’s port. Whenever he sees this or hears it coming, he screams. I can hardly blame him.