shit happens

It took about an hour or so to find a suitable position and then a lot of hard work, but eventually Ethan found the pain relief he was after!



Things looked up after this, four nappies later, the boy was quite happy. We walked another lap of the ward, then we were transferred to the medical paed ward. The knowledge that the chemo drugs were about to be given but the uncertainty of how the little fella would react was unnerving. The chemo nurse was pretty matter of fact about it all and then it started. The port site (Ethan's third nipple) was re-accessed, hydration was given then the anti nausea drug. The 3 chemo drugs were given over 3 hours. Following this, 13 hours of hydration, including mesna to protect the bladder has to be given. This will run overnight. There is a balancing act required to flush clean the kidney and bladder but not to give too much fluid, and overload his heart.

Ethan actually slept through the chemo treatment and woke up for tea. He seemed to have handled it all quite well. These photo's were at tea time and shortly afterwards when he had a walk.