Round 4 started last week Tuesday with Jonathan getting infused with a low dose of IL-2. Since he did relatively well with IL-2 during round 2 - we were allowed to have the infusion take place at home. Jonathan's infusion was for four days - so from Tuesday morning until Saturday he was hooked up to his machine that gave him 1 ml per hour of IL-2. We weren't taking any chances with his nausea this time around - so at nights we gave him a dose of his anti-nausea (Zofran) medicines - especially since he is still on the machine that feeds him during the night. His feed is five cans of Pedisure which is delivered over 10 hours. The good thing is that his weight is keeping constant - about 48 pounds - although he can do with a bit more weight.
Jonathan is going to get admitted tonight to start four days of high dose IL-2 and ch14.18. This time we'll have him on round the clock anti-nausea medicines including: Zofran, Adivan, and Benedryl (or another drug in the same family). I don't expect any surprised this time around - especially since we learnt so much during round 2. We're also coming up to another re-evaluation of his tumor - and both Gabby and I are not really looking forward to it. Let's just say I wouldn't be surprise if his tests still come back positive - but we'll see what happens.
Prior to starting round four - we spent the weekend (President's Day weekend) at Disneyland (in southern California). We left San Jose around 3:30 pm - when we really wanted to leave at 2 pm - and arrived in Anehiem around 10 pm. I don't know how people could live in southern California - but the traffic there is really bad - and if I can say that as a Bay Area person - then you know it's really bad! On the way back to San Jose - it took as two hours just to drive 30 miles!
The trip to Disneyland was nice. We felt we needed to do it - to give the kids something fun to do. I think Jonathan feels his Make A Wish trip isn't going to happen because we keep pushing it out. So this quick get-away was to give them a little taste and lift their spirits. We went with my cousins from San Francisco - so the kids had their cousins to hang out with as well.
On the personal side - I think both Gabby and I are reaching our limits with pushing on. Everything is robotic for me now - just get through the day at work - do whatever we have to do with Jonathan's treatment and rest whenever I can. I'm toying with the idea of taking some leave (unpaid) but we'll see.
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