Moving Day

Well, the day has arrived. The day that Jacob has been looking forward to and the day that his Mom and I knew would come all to fast. Today they are sending Jacob home from the hospital and will allow him to continue his treatment as an out-patient rather than having to sit in this hospital bed all day. This will get him into some more comfortable surrounds. He is especially excited about being able to sleep in his own bed.

He got some good sleep last night, but not before some minor issues. They needed to give him a blood transfusion last night to help bolster his system a little more before sending him home. Prior to a transfusion, they will give the patient some Benadryl to help prevent the body from rejecting the blood. The Benadryl hit him pretty hard and he got an incredible headache. He said it was located in the same spot that you normally get a cold headache when you eat your ice cream too fast. This headache lasted about 30 minutes, and it was pretty painful for him (and for me).


They gave him some Tylenol and Valium to help the headache, so the moment the headache stopped, he was sound asleep. I talked with the Dr this morning and she said that last nights headache was a known side affect of Benadryl when given through the IV> She said next time they will give it to him in pill form and things should be fine. Also, she said that this was not going to put a damper on us getting out of here today. Jake will have some shots this morning of Asparaginase, 1 in each upper leg muscle. This is a one-time treatment, and it's purpose to break down the amino acids that the leukemia cells use to multiply. He is not excited about the shots, but they did but some gel on his legs this morning that have been numbing the spots.

Today we are holding a house-cleaning party. With help of some friends, we are having the house prepared for Jake's arrival. Nothing major, just a thourough vacuum and dusting, washing of all lines, cleaning out the fridge, and making sure that all hard surfaces are wiped down with some anti-bacterial wipes. With this treatment, his immune system is expected to take a hit over the next 4 weeks. Our goal needs to be to keep him as protected from any major germs and infections during this time.

We are going to miss the doctors and nurses that we have had here. They have taken incredible care of Jacob and have been more than patient with us and all of our questions. They have made us feel loved and cared for. Many of them we will get to see in the future as we return for scheduled treatments and surgeries. We will look forward to seeing them again.