::Induction::
From August 18, 2003 to September 9, 2003

This is a list of the medications and chemotherapeutic drugs given during the Induction phase.

Dexamethasone (Decadron)- steroid pill taken at home daily; makes him MOODY and HUNGRY; often referred to as the "meany and munchy pill" by Kirk and I. Has to take a large dose now, then it will taper and be finished by Sept. 1st.
Septra- an antibiotic that helps prevent a specific type of pneumonia called Pneumocystis carinii, which affects immunocompromised people; is a pill taken at home every Monday and Tuesday.
Zantac- medicine to help with ulcers and stomach pain caused by the steroids
Vincristine- cancer fighting medicine; given into his Port by IV push; given days 1, 8, 15, & 22.
Doxorubicin (Daunorubicin)- cancer fighting medicine; is a red liquid; given into his Port by IV drip over 15 minutes; given days 1, 8, 15, & 22.
PEG Asparaginase- cancer fighting medicine; given into a muscle (IM); so it is a shot (we call it a PEG shot); given days 4, 8, & 15.
Intrathecal Therapy (Methotrexate)- cancer fighting medicine; given into his intrathecal space in the lumbar spine; also called a lumbar puncture, spinal, or back poke; the cancer fighting medicine works to keep cancer cells out of the spinal fluid; he is sedated with Versed and ketamine (rapid-acting general anesthetics) for the procedure; given days 1 & 15.
Radiation Therapy- Delivers high-energy rays that stop cancer cells from growing and reproducing; the type of ray is different from a regular x-ray. Matthew needs to have 12 doses of radiation. They are consecutive doses, meaning it is given daily. His radiation therapy will start September 22 and go through October 7, Mon-Fri.

Day 1- Aug. 18
Day 8- Aug. 25
Day 15- Sept. 1 (moved to Sept. 3 because of Labor Day and Lane's 1st day of school was Sept. 2)
Day 22- Sept. 8 -- will be done Sept. 9

::Induction Updates Below::
September 9, 2003, Tuesday ~Day 22~
Great news today!!! Matthew's counts are good enough for him to go on his first day of Kindergarten this Thursday!

Counts:
WBC- 3.3
HCT- 33
PLTS- 175
ANC- 1800

The ANC is what the doctors look at to determine his overall ability to fight infections. We've been keeping our fingers crossed and praying for an ANC higher than 1,000 and so we are very grateful it is and Matthew is SO EXCITED TO GO TO KINDERGARTEN!! HE'S JUMPING AROUND SAYING YAHOOOOO, YAHOOOOO!!

Chemo Today:
He was able to get his chemo here in Vernal today instead of going out to PCMC because all he had was Daunorubicin and Vincristine. So we were glad that we didn't have to drive 3 hours today!

Future Chemo:
He is scheduled to start the next phase of treatment, which is called Consolidation, on September 15, Monday. It is count-dependent which means that his ANC has to be above 750 and his platelets above 75,000 to start this phase. If his counts are too low, then the Consolidation phase is delayed a week. We have the appointment all set for the 15th, but we will take Matthew in for a CBC on Sunday here in Vernal to make sure his counts are high enough. He will have a spinal on the 15th if his counts are high enough.

Matthew will get to go two wonderful days of school, the 11th and 12th. After that, he either has more chemo on his 3rd day of school (the 15th), or else his counts are too low for him to go anyway. Mrs. Redden is going to give me Matthew's work when he misses and we will keep in close contact with her about everything.

Radiation:
Dr. Barnette called yesterday, the 8th, and said that he wants Matthew to start radiation on the 22nd of September. As I mentioned in the last update, the radiation has to be for 12 consecutive days. Thus, starting on Sept. 22nd it will go through Oct. 7th, Monday-Friday. We will come home on weekends. Kirk and I have decided to just take Lane out of school for 2 weeks, along with Matthew and live at Kirk's parent's house instead of making the 3-hour drive back and forth. (They live in Provo which is an hour south of Salt Lake City.) Kirk will stay here and work and we will get Lane's schoolwork from his teacher. She said that would be fine to do this. I just know it would be easier on all of us if we stayed out there and Lane was with us as well.

Thank you for checking in on Matthew and keeping him in your prayers.

~Katrina

p.s. I accessed his port again today and it went well. It is stubborn though and won't give a really GOOD blood return. That is frustrating, but Tami (his chemo nurse here in Vernal) had Matthew turn his head a certain way and it worked ok after that. Thank you Tami and we are looking forward to seeing your baby horses Saturday. :-)

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Written September 4, Thursday
September 3, 2003, Wednesday ~Day 15~
Matthew did such a good job today. We were very proud of him for not complaining too much about being hungry and just for handling everything so well.

8:30am -- First we met with Dr. Shrieve, the Radiation Oncologist, at the University of Utah Medical Center. It is connected to PCMC by an enclosed sky-walk. Matthew enjoyed looking through the windows down across the Salt Lake Valley. It is a beautiful view. Dr. Shrieve basically told us that Matthew needs 12 doses of radiation and that they have to be consecutive. So we will have to take Matthew in for these every day for 2 weeks and 2 days of the 3rd week. With the distance that we have to travel, this poses some difficult issues for us. We are thinking about what would be best as far as traveling and taking care of Lane too. The doctor said we could wait and do the radiation during the Consolidation Phase. So we have a few weeks to figure out a plan.

The doctor and oncology nurse explained to Matthew about how perfectly still he must hold during radiation and they showed him pictures of the room and table. He got a coloring book to help explain things too. Matthew told them he could be "frozen" for it so he wouldn't have to have sleepy medicine. We know he can do this without being sedated. He understands a LOT.

10:15am -- We walked back over to PCMC for Matthew's chemo.
They put him straight into the procedure room in clinic because that is where the spinals are done.
Chemo today:
Spinal for intrathecal Methotrexate
Daunorubicin
Vincristine
PEG shots -- last ones for this phase! yeah!

Counts:
WBC- 6.0
HGB- 13.2
HCT- 39.2
PLTS- 308

He was given Versed and ketamine (the sleepy medicine) before the spinal. He was "out" in less than 5 minutes and the procedure took about 3 or 4 minutes. He was very, very hungry before being sedated and kept telling the nurses to "hurry up, so I can get out of here and get 3 McDonald's hamburgers after I wake up." He woke up in less than 10 minutes because his dad kept trying to open his eyelids and he kept saying things in his ear about hamburgers. Way to go dad! I think that was the shortest time ever that he's been "out."

As soon as the spinal was finished, the nurse hooked up the Daunorubicin to get it going while Matthew was still "out" and she also gave him his Vincristine. When he was awake enough the nurse, along with another nurse, gave him his PEG shots--one in each leg. He had told me yesterday that he would only cry for this long and he put his hands up 2 inches apart. The nurses asked him if he wanted it to go in fast or slow and he said, "FAST!" So they did and he didn't even make a PEEP!! They did it and had the band-aids on his legs and Matthew said, "Are you done!!??" He started giggling and laughing because he didn't even cry. Way to go Matthew! We were surprised you didn't cry and very proud of you too!

We had to wait around 30 more minutes to make sure Matthew didn't have a reaction to the PEG shots but he was able to drink some Sprite. We left at 1:00pm and I had snacks for him in the car, because he couldn't wait until we got to McDonald's. He got 2 plain cheeseburgers instead of 3 and he ate them both quick.

He's gained weight with all his "chowing down" from the the Dexamethasone. He weighed 56 lbs! That about a 6 lb. gain!

One thing that I did today that I've never done before was to access his Port. It is done sterilely. I don't have a problem with sterile procedures because of my background as an x-ray technician. The only hard thing was when I poked the needle through his skin. I know he has Emla cream on and the skin is numb, but it was still hard. I only did this out of neccessity because I need the practice. See, our local hospital's ER nurses do not ever access Ports. If they do, it is maybe once a year and that is on an adult who can handle several tries. In the past, whenever Matthew has needed to go to the ER here in Vernal, it has been a horrible experience for him, me, and the nurses as well. It really isn't fair to them either to expect them to be able to do it right the first time when they have no practice. So the PCMC nurse understood our concerns and was more than happy to assist me. She said that I did an excellent job and was quite impressed. Matthew also said, "You did a good job mom." He held his dad's hands this time and we had talked to him ahead of time, telling him that mommy needed to learn how to do this. He had agreed and he did a really good job letting me do this.

His next appointment is just for Daunorubicin and Vincristine and will be Sept. 9. The PCMC doctor and nurses said it would be fine to have it done out here in Vernal next week. Tami Wallis is the chemo nurse here in town and she is excellent. His pediatrician, Dr. Pollary, will do the physical before the chemo. So we are glad we don't have to drive all the way out there next week.

I have some special THANK YOUs!!!
Thank you to the Haslem Family who took care of Lane overnight while we were gone for these appointments. We went out Tuesday night and stayed in Provo with G-pa & G-ma Harris, so we didn't have so far to go Wednesday morning. Tuesday was Lane's first day of school and Wednesday was his second! He couldn't miss his 2nd day of school...so thank you Haslems!!

Aunt Annette you are awesome!!!! Thank you so much for sending the boys a package!!!! Lane loves the little Bullet Motorcycle--he's collecting them! How did you know?? :-) And Matthew LOVES Baloo the Bear. He is so soft!! We got the package late Tuesday afternoon, so he was able to take Baloo with him yesdterday to the hospital and he slept with Baloo too. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We love you! And the boys are so excited that you are moving to Provo soon. Matthew especially has been telling everyone, "Aunt Annette is moving to Provo!" Too cute!

~Katrina

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September 2, 2003, Tuesday
The munchies are still going strong with Matthew!!! He finished the taper of Dexamethasone Monday morning and all day today he's STILL hungry. I talked with him about tomorrow morning and having to wait until after the sleepy medicine to eat. (Which will be after 10am probably.) He said, "I will try really hard to beat the hungriness." I hope he can!!

FUNNY STATEMENT BY MATTHEW TODAY!
"Mom, do you wish you were a really smart mom so you could invent a robot mom to make me food all day?"
I just laughed and laughed! Where do they come up with this stuff? I don't know about you, but that was funny to me!

I would like to thank Betsi Magee for the card and yo-yo's for the boys! They love them!! And thank you GayLynne Case for the YUMMY, YUMMY cinnamon bread cake. I don't know what you call it, but we've never tasted anything like that before--it is so good! Also, thank you GayLynne for letting Matthew come over to your house too, and for getting him lots of food too! Tell Ryan thanks for making a little bed for Matthew to lay down on when he got tired. :-)

~Katrina

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August 30, 2003, Saturday
Happy Birthday Daddy!
September 1st cannot COME SOON ENOUGH!!! That is the day Matthew takes his last Dexamethasone pill. He's tapering down from it now, but it is still making him pig out all day long!! This is what I hear from him the moment he wakes up all day long, "Hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, H-U-N-G-R-Y, H-U-N-G-R-Y!!!!!" (Get the picture?!) He's eaten everything in the house and I had to go buy MORE Easy Mac and bacon last night at 9:00pm. I finally taught him how to make his OWN toast, but I still have to cook the bacon for him of course. With all his eating, I have him drink LOTS of water too, so his system stays regular.

He's a little porker, but his cheeks aren't swelling up too much. His belly is swelling though. It pooches over his pants pretty good. I know the added weight is good for him though, because when he's not on steroids, he doesn't eat hardly ANYTHING. So really I'm not complaining, it is just so unreal to spend your whole day in the kitchen making stuff for him to eat.

Since he finishes taking the Dexamethasone on Monday, I guess I said that wrong on the Aug. 27th update when I said, "For the spinal he has to have an empty stomach-no food or water after 6:30am- so we are going to have a crazed, hungry, steroid kid on our hands!! I hope he does ok with not eating!" Perhaps the Dexamethasone will be somewhat out of his system and we won't have a "crazed, hungry, steroid kid on our hands" after all. We shall see on Wednesday I guess. He usually does great with not eating before spinals and never complains. I hope the steroid will be out of his system and he's back to normal by Wednesday.

Thank you Linda for the surprise birthday gift for Kirk!! We will go out to LaCabana with it Linda. :-) And of course--thank you Mom and Dad Harris for Kirk's gift. You all are great!

~Katrina

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August 29, 2003, Friday
I'M A PROUD MOM! Matthew had his assessment test for Kindergarten today. The teacher said that if every child came to Kindergarten knowing as much as Matthew, then we wouldn't NEED Kindergarten. He wrote both his first and last name, said all the letters -lowercase and uppercase- and said the sound each one makes, he counted to 100, and read a few sight words. She said that she will have him go with the resource teacher for advanced reading and she'll have to send different things home for him to do so he doesn't get bored. He's so excited about going. He said that he wanted to stay there and do more school things all day long. Way to go Matthew! Mom sure is proud of you!

~Katrina

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Written August 27, 2003, Wednesday

August 25, 2003, Monday ~Day 8~
Chemo received today:
Daunorubicin
Vincristine
PEG shots

COUNTS:
WBC 8.9
HGB 13.5
HCT 39.9
PLTS 304
Yes, I am as surprised as you are with those counts. They are going up. Dr. B just said "they are super!"

Matthew did really well with his Port access today. I thought the Port would be really tender from just having surgery to put it in a week ago, but he did really well with it even though it was tender.

It was a fairly quick day in clinic today. In at 10am and out at 12:15pm. Matthew handled the shots a little better today. He still screamed, but not for AS LONG this time. The nurses said that Matthew did wonderful and praised him a lot. (Quilting Angel Cheryl: I will tell Matthew about your idea you left in the guestbook. I like it a lot! Thank you!)

Dr. Barnette saw Matthew today and he said his privates feel like they are shrinking. I told him about the pain and he said that it could be from them shrinking. He said that mouth sores will most likely not go away that quickly and that they will look like white plaque areas. He said to call the clinic anytime for any little thing.

Dr. B told me that he talked with the Radiation Oncologist, a Dr. Gaffney, and Kirk and I need to visit with him next week. Since we live so far, they try to coordinate everything to do in one day. Next week will be a LONG day at the hospital. We have to talk to Dr. Gaffney at the University of Utah Medical Center at 9:00am (that is where they will do the radiation and it is right next to PCMC), then we have to zoom down to PCMC for Matthew's spinal, PEG shots, and other chemo at 10:00am. For the spinal he has to have an empty stomach--no food or water after 6:30am- so we are going to have a crazed, hungry, steroid kid on our hands!! I hope he does ok with not eating! (Just this morning, he's eaten 2 waffles, 3 pieces of bacon, 1 cup of grapes, 1 ham and cheese sandwich, and a bowl of oatmeal and it isn't even 11:00am yet!!) He understands that he cannot eat before sleepy-medicine, so I hope he does allright next week. The appointment will be on WEDNESDAY instead of Monday because Monday is a holiday and Tuesday is Lane's first day of school.

For Matthew's consolidation, Dr. Barnette and the Children's Oncology Group directors have decided to do the 7-week consolidation course. It is a lot harder than another one they told us they were considering, but they feel it will be best. It is a protocol from the UK which he is already on and will just continue with.

His glucose was fine and Dr. Barnette said NOT to worry about cutting out sugary stuff until the lab work says it is high. He'll have the glucose checked again Thursday with his local doctor here in Vernal (Dr. Pollary).

Thank you for checking in on Matthew. He has loved having me read his guestbook messages. Jokes are a hit! Thank you Uncle Kyle and Aunt Heather for your help!!! You are awesome! Sunday night before going to G-pa & G-ma Harris's house, we stopped at Aunt Teresa's house and said hello. It was great seeing you and your kids for a little while!

~Katrina

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Written August 23, 2003, Saturday ~Includes Aug. 21 - Aug. 23~
August 21, 2003, Thursday ~Day 4~
Matthew had a PEG shot today. It is given in BOTH legs at the same time. One nurse for each leg, pushing the chemo in at the same time. I felt so bad for him. The Emla cream numbs the skin up so he can't feel the poke of the needle into the skin, but he could feel the chemo going in because it stings really bad. And it wasn't just a little bit. It is quite a large volume that has to go in. Nothing compared to a little vaccine shot or a flu shot. I've never heard him scream so loud and be so upset. The only thing that finally calmed him down was for me to say, "Lane was LUCKY that he got to plug his ears, because you broke my eardrums and the nurses' eardrums." He started laughing. I think he was glad that he got to inflict pain somehow upon those who were inflicting pain upon him. I don't blame him. One of the nurses then apologized to him and said she was sorry that it hurt and that she had to do that. She wished that it didn't hurt and that she didn't have to do it, etc, etc. Matthew seemed to understand, but he still didn't say it was ok (I don't blame him); he just sort of glared at her. Then he told her he ONLY likes needle pokes in his Port. She said that the reason it doesn't hurt there is because the chemo that goes in is going into the blood, not the muscle. Thankfully there are only 2 more PEG shots to go!! We had to stay 30 minutes after the shot was given because the shot can cause really bad allergic reactions. They told me if he started to breathe funny after we left, to call 911. Matthew was fine thankfully.

Dr. Barnette's colleague saw Matthew today. Her name is Dr. Afify. She's from Mexico I think; she had a strong accent. She told us to not ever give Matthew vitamins throughout the whole course of treatment, because they can decrease the effectiveness of Methotrexate. She also said to watch him closely for increased urination or excessive thirst. The steroid he is on right now (Dexamethasone) can increase his glucose levels. On Monday's appointment, he will have a urine glucose test done to be sure the levels are ok.

On the way out to Salt Lake City, we stopped in Heber and had lunch at McDonald's. I didn't buy them Happy Meals this time because Matthew wanted TWO plain cheeseburgers and a root beer; Lane wanted a fish sandwich. He was VERY insistent about having TWO "crabby patties" as he calls them, so that is what he got. He ate one in the restaurant and one as soon as we got back in the car. That is what steroids will do to you!! They also make you extremely grumpy and whiney with your big brother! Poor Lane is getting the brunt end of the steroid attack full force. Matthew yells at him a lot, but he also gets in trouble from mom for yelling. We will all be glad when Sept. 1 arrives! That is the last day of steroids for this phase. (Note: that was probably the LAST time we go into McDonald's for a looooooong time, because I expect after Monday that his counts will start dropping a lot.)

We went to Aunt Sandy & Uncle Brett's house after the appointment. They live in South Jordan (suburb of Salt Lake City). Brady, the boys' cousin, had a football scrimmage that we went to and enjoyed watching. We've never watched him play before. He's a good player! He got to play QB, offensive line, and running back. Good job Brady!

We got home Friday afternoon and have to go back out to PCMC on Monday.

August 22, 2003, Friday
Friday afternoon at around 4pm, he complained of the inside of his mouth hurting. *Uh-oh I thought* I took a flashlight and looked in his mouth and there were some tiny white dots on the inside of his cheek. He said it feels like someone is poking him with a pin. After looking up "what to do about mouth sores" in the Parent Handbook for Parents of Children with Cancer that Matthew's social worker gave us, I gave him some Tylenol and let him have a popsicle. He seemed to feel better after that. They aren't that bad right now. I'm keeping an eye on them.

He is not himself that is for sure. He is tired and achy already. We went to a friend's house last night (Fri.) and he usually never wants to leave, but he wanted to lay his head on my lap and rest, and was ready to leave when I said it was time to go.

August 23, 2003, Saturday
Saturday morning I checked the mouth sores and they seem to have disappeared. There aren't any white spots now. He woke up at around 8:00 and went potty and then at 8:30 he went again...*hmmmm, I hope his glucose levels are ok I thought.* Now I am keeping track of every time he goes to the bathroom; throughout the day today, it has been more frequent than usual for him. I told him to tell me every time he has to go...even during the night. Just to be on the safe side, he's not going to get any cookies, ice cream, sweets, not too much bread, cereal, juice, and other things high in sugar. We'll also monitor salty food intake. I am glad we go back out to PCMC so quickly, or else I would call them about this.

Also, Saturday afternoon, he said that he is having pain "down there" now too. He cried and said that his testicles hurt. Maybe the cancer is causing actual pain now? Poor little guy. Dr. Barnette told us that when he has radiation, then they will shrink back to normal and then we will know he's in remission. I guess until then, I hope the chemo they are giving him will decrease the cancer growth and thus decrease any more pain "down there."

We will drive out to G-pa & G-ma Harris's house Sunday evening so we don't have to drive 3 hours on Monday morning. His appointment is at 10:00am. Lane has chosen to come with us to clinic while he has the choice. Once school starts, he has to go to school. He'd rather be with us and he wants to see everything done to Matthew. He's very concerned and he is quite helpful in clinic actually. I've enjoyed his company and so has Matthew.

Thank you for checking in on Matthew. And thank you Miss Karen from California :-) for the card and pack of stickers for Matthew!! We got them Saturday and he LOVED the card and the stickers. He said, "I have a plan. I'll make the Sponge Bob notebook I got into a sticker collection book." Then he proceeded to put every single sticker on one of the pages. Too cute!

~Katrina

Note to Thursday's appointment: WE SAW MELANIE WHILE IN CLINIC!!! Oh it was so WONDERFUL to see her not be inpatient anymore! She looked awesome and that million-dollar smile was back! They were there for a followup CT scan. They'd had a rough day in clinic though...long. Melanie still has a lot of strength to regain...she will, I know it! :-)

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August 20, 2003, Wednesday
Today I registered the kids for school. Actual registration was Mon. and Tues, so we had missed it. Lane's teacher had called last week and wanted to test all the kids in her class before school started. I was able to tell her about Matthew, and after Lane's testing we talked about Lane and keeping an eye on how he's doing emotionally as well as academically. Mrs. Hanberg is going to be an excellent 3rd grade teacher for Lane.

After talking with Lane's teacher, we went to the Kindergarten Building to get Matthew registered. I had called the principal, Mr. Atkin, yesterday to let him know about Matthew's diagnosis and he agreed to meet with me today when I came to register Matthew. We found out that Matthew will have Mrs. Redden for kindergarten (same teacher Lane had) and he's supposed to go in the afternoon from 12:45 to 3:30. A little girl that lives across the street from us is also in his class, so that will be good.

Mr. Atkin learned a lot about Leukemia today and how children can attend school safely with the cooperation of parents, teachers, and staff. He is more than willing to help Matthew have the best possible experience in Kindergarten. I had a letter for him to look over that will be sent home to all the parents of Matthew's class. He agreed that it needed to be sent to them and even added some things to it. He agreed that Matthew could definitely wear a hat to school and would allow the kids in his class to wear hats as well if they wanted. He suggested that all the kids in his class learn about what Matthew has and I agreed. He suggested that Kirk and I, along with Mrs. Redden and himself, develop a 504 plan for Matthew. I agreed and was glad that he brought that to my attention. He's going to be an excellent asset to Matthew's school experience.

I feel good about Matthew going to school and being safe from infection as he possibly can. I know that his teacher and principal will do everything to protect him from anything serious. I know that he needs to be a part of school as much as he possibly can when his ANC is above 500.

Matthew has to have a PEG shot tomorrow at PCMC. Appointment at 1:00pm. We plan on staying overnight with Aunt Sandy & Uncle Brett.

~Katrina

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August 19, 2003, Tuesday
The boys got a GREAT BIG SURPRISE today!!! All the co-workers from Kirk's office had collected money to buy them some balloons, toys, and some neat little activities. Cindy came out to our house on her lunch and brought everything to Lane and Matthew. They loved everything! Thank you so much everyone from Kirk's office!!! You all are awesome to do that!

~Katrina

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(This was written and added to web site on August 19, 2003)
August 18, 2003, Monday ~ Day 1 ~
I have included general information, blood count information, and information about this phase of treatment above in order for you to refer to it if needed. I cannot assume everyone understands the cancer treatment language and so by providing it, I hope to answer some of the questions that you may have.

Well Matthew has his Port now and was given his first doses of chemo. It was a rough day for all of us...emotional and long with a lot of waiting. I'll start at the beginning.

Since we live 3 hours from PCMC, we drove out Sunday night and stayed at G-pa & G-ma Harris's house in Provo which is 1 hour south of Salt Lake City. Sibs have a hard time with this too and Lane expressed some emotions about all this Sunday night. I reassured him that we wanted him to be there tomorrow and would have made arrangements for him to stay with someone if we didn't want him to come. (Grandparent Harrises were on vacation in California, so they couldn't watch him.) He calmed down and felt better after that.

7:00 am -- arrival time at PCMC Same Day Surgery. 8:45am-- Matthew taken back to have his Port-A-Cath implanted. He also had the lumbar puncture while he was sedated in surgery. 11:00am-- Matthew awake enough for us to go see him. (Lane allowed to go see him as well. He did a FABULOUS job with all the waiting! He gave Matthew the sips of juice every time Matthew wanted a sip.) 11:45am-- out of recovery and headed to the Oncology Clinic for the next set of instructions. We were told that he needed an echocardiogram and that they could fit us in in 20 minutes if we went over and checked in now. 12:45pm-- had the echocardiogram done. (Matthew ate dry Froot Loops cereal and drank juice while waiting.) 1:00 pm-- went back to the Oncology Clinic. (Matthew ate pretzels once we got in a room at around 1:30pm and drank more juice. The rest of us had nothing.)

His nurse came in to draw blood for a CBC from his Port. We had requested that the surgeon access his Port while in surgery to save Matthew some pain of having it accessed later. We were very glad that we did this because later, when the nurse took the needle out of his Port, it was very painful for him. He was very sore from the surgery.

Counts: WBC-8.5!, ANC-6,500!!, HCT-37.6, HGB-12.8, PLTS-248
We were really surprised to see his WBC and ANC so high. They haven't been that high since ending treatment in February!

Dr. Barnette came in to talk to us about the course of treatment. He told us all about Induction and the chemo he would have to have. He went into Consolidation a little bit, but said that it is not final what they will do until they hear from the director of the Children's Oncology Group (COG). The COG is helping PCMC to compile data from all across the country. He said that testicular relapse without bone marrow involvement is fairly rare and that this is the best way to develop the best treatment plan. He did say that Matthew's cure rate is now 70-75%. (The first time round it was 80-85%.) He told us that we have to meet with the Radiation Oncologist to discuss when he would have to have those treatments and how often. Kirk asked what Matthew's chances of sterility were and Dr. B said, "pretty much guaranteed." I couldn't help it. I began to cry a little bit. I don't know WHY I thought that perhaps since he was not producing sperm yet, then he would be ok to have kids. Actually, it would be better if he did have sperm, because then they could go in and save some by freezing it. But now his organs that produce sperm will be permanently damaged...... (After we left and were on our way home, I did cry about this. It is horrible. But then I told Kirk that I would of course love adopted grandkids just as much as I would love grandkids born naturally. He of course agreed wholeheartedly.)

Chemo started. The nurse gave him the Vincristine first. It is just in a syringe and she pushes it all in through his Port. It is done in about 1 minute. Then she got the IV pump ready for the Doxorubicin. It takes about 15-20 minutes for that to go in...again, it is through his Port. When that one started, I was emotional again. I couldn't help it. It was so hard for me to see that toxic stuff go in him... again. It is red in color and Matthew requested that he get blue chemo next time, because blue is his favorite color. What a kid!

He has to have a PEG shot on Thursday. Dr. B arranged to have it done out here in Vernal. Tami is the chemo nurse here and she could do it and his pediatrician could do Matthew's physical. It was all arranged and we were told to pick up the medication in pharmacy at PCMC before leaving. Kirk went to get it and the pharmacy told him that they were out of it and wouldn't have anymore until Wednesday!! That blew that whole plan out of the water. Dr. B. was quite upset with pharmacy over this. Apparently, PCMC is not allowed to ship the medication out to Vernal when they do get it and the company that makes the PEG Asparaginase is not allowed to send it directly to Vernal either. So we are stuck with no choice but to make another trip out there on Thursday.

We got prescriptions for Dexamethasone and Septra which we will fill at Wal-Mart in Vernal.

Finally, at 4:00pm, we were able to leave. We were all starving, so we stopped at Marie Calendars restaurant on the way home. We arrived home at around 8:30pm. Just after getting home, we had some visitors stop by. They are from our Ward (church congregation) and it was so nice to have them visit at this time. It was Dr. Nielson, his wife Mary, and daughters Natalie and Mary (who is adopted). Little Mary had made a card for Matthew that was so sweet and Natalie made the BEST chocolate chip cookies for Lane and Matthew. (I need that recipe Natalie!) Thank you Nielsons!

Thank you again everyone for the e-mails, guestbook entries, cards, treats, etc. Everyone is so concerned and loving. We truly appreciate it. I am sorry I can't respond to every e-mail and guestbook entry, but please, please know that they are appreciated!!!

~Katrina