Green light = GO

We were scheduled to arrive in the Oncology clinic this morning at 8:30 a.m., so they could draw routine labs since it is the dreaded 3rd week. Third week = both V & A treatments. When he receives V only, they draw his blood same day (Wednesday), directly before they push through chemo medicine. But, when he has to receive V AND A, they have to make sure his blood counts are okay ahead of time since the A wears down his blood cells like nobody's business.

We arrive and sit in our nice little isolation waiting room. Holy moly was it HOT in there. They had that heater blasting! Little Einsteins comes on, and gathers Isaac's attention for the few minutes that I was checking him in and signing the necessary paperwork. The nurse comes to the window shortly after and lets us know she will be right with us. Okay! Funny, because Isaac never even looks at the television at home.

Less than 10 minutes later, she comes to us with her little tray of goodies. She accesses his port, with ease, no flinching. Draws blood, and gives me the option of leaving his line accessed. I had to think about it for a few, then decided to just leave it for tomorrow's chemo. Isaac gets a little anxious during port access, so I thought I would save him a little nervousness for 1 day. That way, all she has to do is reach under his shirt and grab the 6 inch IV cord, rather than having to tear off the Tagaderm-film, wipe off the EMLA, douse him with alcohol and POKE. By step 3 (alcohol) he is already starting to become Mr. Squirmy Wormie, so by the time she actually pushes through the chemo, he is full on kicking n' twisting like an alligator.

Came home, and watched him like a hawk so he would not discover his new appendage. He did great! I was worried that we would get it caught on something, but we made it through the day.

Blood counts came back great! We are a go for tomorrow.

ANC: 4,600
WBC: 8.1
Hemoglobin: 10.5
Platelets: 547