Man of Steel

This morning seemed like it came early, far too early.

Last night I had prepared a few things, my overnight bag, a puke bucket for the Flex (just in case), mine and Austin’s electronic gadgets were all charged, packed away and I told him to pack his bag of favorite things.  When I went in his room this a.m. to check his bag it brought tears to my eyes, his needs are so simple, Power Ranger, Mickey, Goofy and Belle have made the journey with us. During the night, I did have a hard time falling asleep I thought of a few more things, Capri Suns (I know he won’t drink anything thing they offer him in the chemo room) and a change of clothes for Austin.

On our drive in we listened to a couple of favorite tunes, he picked “Hallelujah”, Mom picked “Waiting for Superman” it went with Austin’s “Man of Steel” Shirt.

During the ride in he conversed a little, he was entertained by the lights on the Motor City Casino (I guess we’ve never driven by before in the dark.) What’s weird is since our time in the hospital and afterward his speech seems to have improved, less cluttered, not so soft spoken, clearer, he’s easier to understand and I think the quality of his conversations have improved as well.  Now to be honest, I’d sacrifice the quality of his speech if we didn’t have to experience this.

He’s been amazing, as usual, blood pressure cuff on one arm (taken every 15 minutes), IV on the other, only thing he repeats is “I’m hungry”, “Do you want a kiss?”, he’s blowing me kisses and asking me if I’ve caught his kiss. .

They gave him Benadryl and Tylenol before we started. Nurse went over the med with me (most of the stuff I already new) but she told me something that made me feel a little better, the risk of Kidney Failure is just about non-existent for Austin’s treatment, this may happen when Rituximab is used to break up larger cancerous tumors, Austin doesn’t have tumors, it shouldn’t affect his kidneys. Rituximab is used as a targeted treatment for cancer, it’s not chemo, he won’t lose his hair.

After we got him initially checked in, situated in the Chemo room but hadn’t started the IV yet I went to Biggby for my large Mocha, Mocha.  The Barista at the register, looked up, recognized me and said “What are you doing here?  I thought you went home? You are not supposed to be here!” She was startled to see me, the not so good news (or maybe good news) only one more point needed and I earn another free Mocha, Mocha (and maybe another pound or two).

We’ve been doing the treatment for almost 60 minutes now, so far all is well.  Austin is blowing me kisses and I’m asking me if I’ve caught them. I’m gonna be catching a lot of kisses since we’ve got about 5 hours to go. 

Waiting to be checked in

Chemo Chair # 8, waiting for the next step 

And it begins, got the History Channel on