Immuno Day One!

 We made it to the hospital by 9:00am. They immediately placed an IV in hit right arm to draw labs. Since they needed so many blood draws today, plus the infusion of the drug that has to have its own IV, they decided to place a second IV right then.  He chose the IV so he wouldn't have to be poked five times throughout the day, yet ended up getting poked seven times to place the second IV. Awesome. They blew the veins five times trying.

The first set of labs were to make sure he is still healthy for the infusion today. They got vitals and a baseline EKG for today. 15 minutes before they started the infusion, they drew his blood again. They started the Miracke Drug at 12:30pm.  At 2:30pm they'll do another EKG and blood draw. Then another EKG and blood draw at 5:30pm and 8:30pm. Intense!

The Miracle Drug.

We did get news that we got a room at Ronald McDonald House. It's in the older house, so not as new and updated as the last one we stayed at, but we hope it will be much quieter. Fingers crossed.

Things are going well so far!

UPDATE
I had not pressed the Post button two minutes before Caden had a severe reaction to the medicine. He woke from a nap saying his tongue felt like it was swelling and that his throat felt scratchy. I pressed the nurse button, only to have doctors and nurses RUNNING to our room. In a four-minute time span, Caden went from scratchy throat, to flushed, red skin, red eyes, then "woozy," then "gonna pass out," to passed out, severely dropped blood pressure, to awake because of the Epi pen. We're done with the "Miracle Drug" for the day, with hopes of trying it at half speed next week. If he has another reaction, we are done with The Study forever. He received 1/4 of the dose.

They asked if we would be ok to continue the blood draws at hours three, five, and eight. "He worked hard for that IV!! We'll do those blood draws!"

He joked around with the doctors and nurses (making them comment that they knew he felt better), said he was hungry, had another EKG, started a massive case of the shakes, then fell asleep before he could eat the cheeseburger I ran to the cafeteria to get. He is resting comfortably now.

Witnessing something so scary had my adrenaline spiked pretty high. Now that I see him resting, I'm pretty drained. My goodness, I hope he can tolerate half speed next week.  I want this medicine to have a chance!

UPDATE
He is being admitted to the hospital for observation overnight. He started with severe shaking again and is not feeling well at all-- all symptoms of another reaction. They have ordered more nausea meds, and have vitals planned throughout the night. I'm grateful that professionals will be watching over my son tonight. I am completely overwhelmed with it all. It has been a very taxing, emotionally-charged day. NOT how I imagined it going at all. We are most likely done with The Study. We are back on the surgery schedule for the ablation that was supposed to happen Friday, but will most likely be two weeks from now. Please pray for my son tonight. We need Him more than the professionals.

 The whites of his eyes were super red (although it doesn't really look it in the above picture) and his ears and skin took on a look of extreme sunburn.  Much like the first reaction, but not as big of a reaction.

UPDATE
Randy stopped by the hospital before heading home for his flight tomorrow. He was able to be there for me as Caden was transitioned from Clinic to In Patient. It was agony walking into the cancer floor again. He has had a continuous fever for more than three hours now. His skin looks as if it has a massive sunburn. He's feeling ok, but not great. However, one thing I know from the day we have had-- things can change for the worst in 1.2 seconds.

While grabbing comfy pants from the car, I passed by a bumper sticker that perfectly says my new mantra: Fight Like a Kid. The Boy in the Bed fought HARD today. I could not be any more proud to call him mine.