February 9, 2012 **UPDATED**

The last couple of weeks my posts have been scarce, I think mostly because during that time things felt so normal, that it was just easier to not think about it any more than I had too.  BUT we are back at the hospital for round four of chemo today.  We will probably start tonight and this round will run for a full 72 hours.
It's hard to know what to think or feel right now.  On the one hand I am thrilled that his recent bone marrow tests were clean indicating the chemo is working.  Yet on the other hand I am fearful that his belly is getting larger and that he is having urine retention again.  Is his belly getting larger or is it my imagination?  If it is, maybe it is just because he is gaining weight which is good or maybe it is because the tumor is not shrinking which of course is bad.  Then, I am pretty sure he is having urine retention again, but why?  Is that a sign that the tumor is being tricky or active?  Or is the urine retention related to something else and not connected to the tumor at all?  We never did know for sure if it was.  Or is it just a natural urine retention and I am just extra paranoid?  It is so hard not to be able to see what the tumor is doing in response to the chemo.  I am so anxious for this round to come and go and for the fifth round to come and then THE SCANS.  Oh, how badly I want to know the results of the scans.  The home health nurse Clayton had since he was born actually told me that she knew a mother who called this feeling scan-xiety. 
The way our schedule is, we will do all of the scans again after the fifth round and then again after the surgery and the sixth round.  That is when we are praying to hear the words, "He's in remission."
Anyhow, for now we are doing pre-hydration and waiting to test some of his urine levels to tell us when we can actually start the chemo...Be back later.

**UPDATED**

We were able to get started with chemo around 8 p.m.  That might sound crazy since we got here at 10:30 a.m., but we were happy with 8 p.m..  8 p.m. is good considering that when doing pre-hydration for these same meds on the first round we didn't get to start until midnight and for the second round it was 5:30 the next morning.  Clayton has been as incredibly active all day, which as many of you know is just code for his grandmother and I have been chasing him and pacifying him ALL day...until George got here and it was his turn- seriously, I almost ran from the hospital to get us dinner.  It was that kind of day. When I got back from picking up dinner he was still just as active as ever but in a better mood than before.  Hooked up to his chemo and everything is was just a playing machine last night.  It wasn't easy to coax him into bed, but we finally managed it.

With this round we do one med for six hours the first night and six hours the second night.  When he is getting this med, we have to be sure he is urinating adequately every two hours.  He gets two other meds continuously over the course of 72 hours.  Then of course there will be the battle of combating the nausea.  As far as nausea goes, the third and fourth day are usually the worst.   Anyhow, I'll be here to keep everyone updated!