Steroids and more Chemo...yuck

 We had a rough week.  After 2 rounds of Chemo in Salt Lake, we headed back home.  Austin is taking steroids this week and they make him feel miserable and make him very grumpy.  He only had a day or so of feeling ok before having to go back for more chemo.  Thankfully, we can stay in St George for the next two rounds.  We saw Dr Walker, got the Ok to go and headed to the Peds floor for chemo.  Austin did well getting his port accessed and got the Vincristine and more of the dreaded "Red Devil", Doxorubicin.  Austin started feeling nauseous before the infusion was complete.  Part of what Austin is battling now is called "anticipatory nausea".  He begins to get nauseas simply by thinking about getting chemo and dreading getting sick afterwards.  Dr. Walker recommended trying some Ativan before starting chemo this time to see if it would help.  I'm not sure the Ativan helped much since Austin still felt sick.  Austin's counts are awesome this week.  His ANC is 5700, the highest it's been since diagnosis.  This isn't really a surprise because the steroids can cause the counts to go up.  We expect they will start going down in the next few weeks.  

Getting checked out by Dr Walker

Waiting to get Chemo

Getting his port accessed, laughing with Nurse Jason

poke!

Getting Doxorubicin or "The Red Devil".
Austin's red cheeks are caused by the steroids he is taking.

Finishing Chemo, feeling yucky

Trying not to throw up--this sucks!

Going home--thanks for the puppy and the soft blanket!