Here We Go

We survived our red-eye flight to Baltimore with our 1-year old- he actually got 6 hours of sleep, and we got about one. We got in on Monday and Blake had 13 vials of blood drawn and a full body fat percentage profile completed as an outpatient. It wasn't all work, though. Our friend, Adrienne came up to visit and we also met up with his cousin and family, so we've been pretty social. They all brought toys for Alden, and his grandparents are taking care of him, so he thinks we've taken him on a wonderful vacation.
Today, we went in to get his Hickman catheter placed and were admitted for his first chemo dose this evening. The catheter is inserted into the big vessel near his heart so they can draw blood and give medications without needing IVs, etc. They used a pretty hefty dose of medications to knock him out, as when I met him in recovery he was very relaxed and has no memory of the procedure. What can I say, when Hopkins' people do something, they do it well. That was the scariest thing for him, so he's glad that's over and done with. Now, we're hanging out in his room and giving him tons of fluids before the chemo dose, but he should tolerate the first one OK. Especially as they are giving him tons of ativan and oxycodone and anti-nausea medications- he'll end up thinking the week was pretty fun! We left several of our technology crutches at home, but they are being shipped shortly and can post some pictures when it gets here. So far he's not delirious, so the later pics should be more entertaining anways. "Honey, there are not little people in the corner." It should take about 8 days or a bit longer for the immune cells to get as low as they are going to go, so it's a bit of a waiting game. We will at least be able to be at the apt after the 4th day here, so that'll be nice, although our room here is quite nice. We're in a single room and it's pretty comfortable with big windows and decent chairs. I'll just end by saying a huge THANK YOU to everyone for all your support. It has made all of this so much easier. Till tomorrow.