28th December

Harry is in hospital for his 5th lot of chemo. This is day 40 half way through his initial chemotherapy treatment plan. We got mixed messages and Harry was due his chemo on ward 79 not 76 so traipsed up there with our things. It was really busy as people have been delayed treatment to enable them to have Christmas at home , therefore we seem to spend till 12.30 waiting for something to happen! We also found out that Harry's ultrasound had been moved from next week to today, which was great, but we were not told this detail until after Harry had chosen his sandwich and chocolate cake, which then had to be retrieved from a tearful boy! However the ultrasound was at 2pm so not too bad! We have got the information that his tumour is smaller, which is fantastic, hopefully have more detail next week once the full report is done and given to our consultant. We are back in next tues for a kidney and hearing test for harry so should meet up with the consultant then and get the bone marrow results too. I met with Sue the consultant this afternoon to discuss the next few months of treatment. Just as you are feeling positive about things, she highlights that Harry has to be rid of the cancer in his bones and bone marrow prior to the tumour coming out, which we know, but also to highlight that if he is not rid then he has to have more chemo, which we were also aware of, but if in this category then survival rate is lower!
Anyway, fingers crossed he is not in that category and it will be end of feb he has the tumour out, then radiotherapy for 3 weeks then high dose chemo and stem cell therapy. So April will be spent in hospital. He is actually likely to be quite poorly then and could be out of it a lot on morphine, so I think it'll be our spirits that will need lifting! To get that point will be a massive hurdle. Really getting to the point of having the tumour out will be truly magnificent!
Anyway back to today! Harry's blood count results have just come through and his HB is low so he will have a blood transfusion in between chemo treatments! I wasn't sure if they were dipping or if his fractious temperament at times was due to his cold. I think again my initial instincts were right! A woman's intuition!!