Today is the last day Chase receives his last low-dose of Methotrexate chemo!! He's received four of these since transplant and it's purpose is to destroy the mature cells from the donor's marrow so they won't attack Chase's body. It's a tiny amount, but it still feels great to say he's done with chemo!!
First, I slept better last night and so did Chase. He wasn't coughing or needing to get up in the middle of the night needing to bring up the globs of bloody mucous. Yes, it's disgusting sounding, not to mention to look at, but it's our current reality.
However, I did notice the inside of his lips, particularly along the inside of his top lip had a lot of dried blood building up. He can't even open his mouth to see inside at this time and what you see of his tongue is just the tip, which also has dried blood on it. I don't think his tongue is lacerated though. It's just this gunk he brings up literally gets stuck in his mouth and it dries there.
Since he's been pretty doped up, for lack of a better word, and nausea hasn't seem to plague him, after their consultation, the doctors decided to get rid of his Benadryl / Ativan pump completely. I confess that made me a bit nervous, but they did say he would still receive Kytril, an anti-nausea med that has really helped in the past. He can also receive Ativan as needed on top of the Kyrtril, too. Since these meds were being cut off, that meant his morphine level could go up.And after a few hours, what a difference that made!!
He's more alert and definitely appears to have more energy. Katie and Elise (I hope that's correct, she's the physician's assistant), cleaned out his mouth really well. They used the KY jelly to clear up a lot of the clots that had formed both overnight and existing ones, which further limited the range of how big he could open his mouth. I think they must have worked on him for a good ten minutes at least.They used a huge syringe (no needle) to irrigate his mouth, which helped clean out some debris. Then each of them took turns with gauze soaked in sterile water to clean his teeth, gums, tongue, and the insides of his mouth. After that, they used the KY to work on the clots. It was amazing how many they were able to get rid of. A few were more stubborn and couldn't be removed without causing his mouth to bleed, but they should come off soon.
After they were done cleaning, they poured Amicar over his lips and had him swish it twice in his mouth, then spit. This helps control the bleeding in his mouth and lips. Once that was done, they coated his bottom lip in bacitracin (Neosporin) and then put petroleum jelly over that. His mouth looked SO much better!! Chase even said it felt better, too.Once the Benadryl and Ativan had worked their way out of his system, his eyes were more focused, unlike in these pictures. He was responding to questions better and even interacting more.
Hartley came by to help him do laps, and he refused the walker. Instead, he looped an arm around my neck while she pushed his pole. He rested between laps here and there, but ended up doing 15 in all!! I was shocked and everyone was so proud of him. It's really great how the nurses will encourage patients as they are out walking. They are always saying, "Good job, Chase!" "You're looking strong." Even though he doesn't respond, I know he hears them and it has to make some difference.
However, he did try to negotiate the extra 5 laps he did as an exchange for not taking a bath. I made no such deal, even though he swore that's what I said. Nice try. Even though he was exhausted, he got his bath, but not after incredibly frustrating me.
Every night, he has meds that are run at certain times. Some meds run over 20 minutes, some 30, some 45, and some 1 hour. I never try to get him in the bath unless he's got ample time to go between meds. The last thing he wants is for a nurse to need to come into the bathroom while he's in the tub to change something out. So, I asked what the timing was between each one. Seeing he had enough, I started his bath and had everything ready. He stalled until a pump started beeping. I told him the water was ready and I wasn't about to empty the tub and re-fill it, so he better get in there before it got cold. Knowing he has a fever and can't take really warm baths, that water would be getting cold quicker than usual. He eventually got in there though and spent about 5 minutes at best.
In one last ditch effort, he tried to apply the extra 5 to the following day. Too bad they don't allow you to bank laps.
And so ends another day of post-transplant recovery. As always, thank you for the prayers and support!
God Bless!
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