The doctor was very pleased with Joshua's progress this morning, and all his bloods are up on Tuesday's - his neutrophils are up to 0.87 (below 1 is 'neutropenic', which is medical speak for 'naff immune system'). His swab taken on Tuesday also came back negative for the 'RSV' (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) which he apparently had after his flu. This meant that today was not spent in total isolation with all medical staff gowned and masked! The doctor was again, very impressed that he had managed to shake it without virtually no immunity. He said Joshua was 'very lucky'. I said we thought there was a different reason - i.e. people on five continents praying for Josh!
Josh has also put on another 1.3kg since Tuesday (after putting on 1.3kg between last Friday and this Tuesday). All kudos to Libby's 'constant feeding' programme 👦
This day went very well - after obs and waiting for the blood test results the OK was given to start this round of chemo which kicked off around midday. It should have taken 6 hours for the chemo and another hour of 'flushing', but for reasons that are not entirely clear Joshua and I managed to escape the hospital by around four fifteen. We were not complaining!
Please do pray for this next round of chemo which starts officially on Sunday. The schedule (or 'protocol') looks this:
Probably more info than you needed and only interesting to medics! The most 'interesting' point is that the 'Double Intrathecal' is a lumbar puncture where they bung doses of chemo drugs directly into his spinal fluid - so Joshua will have the dubious present of a spinal tap on his 16th birthday on Monday...
We hope to be able to make the rest of the day a bit more enjoyable 👦
As a point of interest, the protocol that Josh is being treated with is called R-COPADM (after the initials of the chemo drugs used). The other day I told the doctor that they should try adjusting the protocol to be R-COPADM-P - with the -P being for Pringles (which Joshua has been binging on since he started treatment). Libby pointed out that the -P should be for prayer, which I have to admit probably has more impact than the Pringles 👦
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