Sam has been off chemo now for 2 weeks and it’s been fun watching him get his energy back. Listen to his activity update:

• Last week he rode our Peloton for a 10-15 mins 3 days and also did some weights here and some swimming at the pool.  
• Friday he went to lunch with us on Cal Ave and went to a pizza party with the class of 2024 in the park (his first time to see many of his classmates 🙂)
• Sunday he went swimming at the pool and lifted weights in the gym at the pool for 1.5 hours total.
• Tuesday he played tennis with his girlfriend at 8 am (not running around as we were concerned about a possible fall/cut/scrape/possible infection — Sam, of course, had some choice words for our worry but accepted it under protest #teensgottateenevenwithcancer 😬).  And had his Chinese AP class online.
• After his Chinese class, his cousins stopped by — both had just gotten back from celebrating their 21st birthday in Tahoe with friends and family and 1 was leaving on Wednesday to go back to college, while the other one leaves on 8/30 for study abroad in Switzerland and Rwanda.
• On Tuesday afternoon, he had a clinic appointment too and I just watched him walk up and down the long hallways that make up the Bass Center (Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital’s outpatient clinic) unassisted, at his regular speed and cadence, and just took it all in. When we first arrived, I had to wheel him in from the car in a wheelchair and he would travel the inside hallways that way too. He even wanted to walk in from the parking lot but since we were running late (my bad!) I nixed that.  But yay for wanting to do that (and he did walk in the Thursday before with John).   And no blood transfusion as his hemoglobin was over 8!?!?! (Below 7 = transfusion)
• And on Wednesday he went to lunch with 3 friends at Town and Country! Awesome.

Hooray for normalcy!

Today he starts the next round of chemo called “reintensification” so he’s getting 2 infusions through his port, 1 of which also requires an accompanying hydration therapy and a requirement to “pee before you can leave” of 675 ml in 3 hours (this is all in the “day hospital” which is part of the outpatient clinic).  And I will be suiting up again this weekend and Monday for a reprise of my role as chemo administrator. Take that leukemia!

We just got home — 5:50 pm — and his day started with a blood draw at 7:00 am so that, plus the infusions, made him tired. He even fell asleep for a bit during his hydration therapy (fluid through his port to flush his kidneys as 1 of the chemos can impact them ).

This next phase is only 2 weeks and then he has another week “off” for his bone marrow, and hopefully for his energy too, to recover. 

The line up for these 2 weeks is 8 more doses of Ara-C, of which I administer 7 again, and 2-2.5 tablets of mercaptopurine, or 6 MP, per day (plus associated prophylactic antibiotics (2) and an anti fungal (1) (he’s been taking the prophylactic drugs the entire time as they protect him against infection while he’s neutropenic (low neutrophil count (your first line of defense), which is pretty much all the time except for yesterday and today (his Absolute Neutrophil Count or “ANC” topped 600 today!! Below 500 is neutropenic). 

If you would, do me a favor in the next week or so: watch someone or something you love do something mundane and appreciate the fact that they can do it and you get to be part of their life and take in the simplicity and complexity of it all.. ❤️