Voilà chemo symptoms

Andrew has been doing great lately, I really wondered if this round would be an easier one for him (even though we haven't gotten the mitoxantrone yet), but I think it's just started to affect him. He's been sleeping a lot (mostly on his own), so that's made things a bit easier for me, but I really would rather have him be peppy and exhausting for me than just sleepy... The reason he's exhausting in the hospital is just that I have to constantly fish his lines away from his mouth and his hands, and he's a pretty rolly polly climber man most of the time. Anyway, he's sworn off most solids as of today and is a little crabbier. Overall, we're doing great, though.

We had such a warm welcome coming back. We know all the staff really well by now, and it was almost like coming home... I have a talkative nurse today, which is always a lot of fun for me because the lack of social interaction in the hospital can be a little wearing sometimes. It's fun to hear the perspectives of people who are in the trenches of health care, what they think of decisions from doctors and patients, and what they've noticed people do when put in tough situations. My nurse today has worked here for 10 years, and has done both adult and pediatric oncology. She says that it's so interesting that in peds the parents are so much more willing to do clinical trials than the adults are. I wonder if it's because parents are so much more hopeful their children will recover? I don't know.

I'm really loving the view from my room and the book that I've been reading about the history of cancer. We're still rooting for Kim and Aubree who have been so sick and pray that they'll be more comfortable and recover. We just love the people we've met up here, and are so grateful they've been willing to share their thoughts and experiences and just be our friends.