Central Line
05-13-2008
After him getting poked so many times last night - it is a big relief to have his central-line installed today.
Whoever invented that was certainly inspired - that is such a blessing.
Even though I will say having it back in was quite a punch in the stomach for us, because now we can't avoid admitting how serious this is.
(Bit of trivia - it is a double-lumen
broviac catheter, which gives us double access to give several medicines at once
- or give medicine through one, and draw blood through the other.)
They did his second dose of CNS chemo today. Good news was that the bad CSF (cerebrospinal Fluid) cell counts went down from 2000 to 1000 or something like that.
That is probably also why he is feeling a bit better. The MRI had confirmed that his meninges
were inflamed (meningitis) from the leukemic cells (leukemic meningitis).
Especially the optical areas (nerves?) - that was why the front of his head had hurt so much.
They will start the high-dose IV chemo tomorrow. That goes for a few days. Then we watch his immune system dissappear.
Then we hold our breath and pray for no infections while we wait for it to come back.
This we have done before.
