Update on Nick Baxley 7/23/11

Nick and I were at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham yesterday (Friday, 7/22) for the new chemo.

Thank you all so very much for the thoughts and prayers yesterday.

The many prayers were definitely answered. Nick did NOT have ANY kind of reaction to the chemo infusion. HUGE PRAISES!!!

Yesterday, Nick was given 1/2 of the regular dose of the chemo. It was given very, very slowly. The rate was 12.5 drips an hour. (FYI: The plain IV fluids Nick gets are given at 200 drips an hour.) After 30 minutes passed without a reaction, the rate was increased by 12.5. Nick made it through that first thirty minutes without any problems. His rate then became 25 drips an hour.

For every 30 minutes that passed without a reaction, the rate of infusion was increased by 12.5 drips until we finally reached a maximum rate of 100 drips an hour.

Nick made it the entire way without any kind of reaction.

He was given 50 mg of IV Benadryl and 500 mg of Tylenol before the chemo ever started to help prevent any kind of reaction. Within 10 minutes of getting the IV Benadryl, Nick was asleep. Usually Benadryl doesn’t make Nick sleepy, but at that dose, it knocked him out.

The chemo was started about 10:45 am and we finished about 3:15 pm.

My job was to watch Nick closely for any kind of reaction. I got a break to run to the cafeteria for some lunch. A clinic aide was available to come sit with Nick while I was gone. Nick doesn’t need to be left alone while the infusion is going since the reaction risk is so high. It made for a long day.

We will be going back to clinic for the next dose of this chemo this coming week...Friday 7/29. The chemo will be the full dose this time. The rate per hour will be increased as well. The risk for a reaction will be pretty high again since the dose will be doubled.

After this, hopefully the risk will go down.

Normally, this chemo is given every week for 6 or 8 weeks. The oncologist hasn’t really decided how often Nick is going to receive it though. The oncologist is also trying to make it as easy on me as possible by keeping our trips down there less frequent.

For now, I’m just taking it from one visit to the next. I’m trying not to look too far ahead. It gets very overwhelming.

There are many prayer requests once again. Some of the ones weighing most heavily on my mind are: the financial burden of driving to Birmingham every week, managing the kid’s school work with the weekly trips, Nick’s tolerance of the chemo, the chemo working, the bone marrow decisions...I could go on and on and on.

It’s been difficult these last few days coming to terms with everything and the reality that I am doing this as a single parent. That’s another prayer request. I’ve been doing “this” for a long time with Nick, but I’ve never had to do these weekly trips without Keith to help. I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed right now.

I’m going to leave it here for now. If I get to the point that I can open up anymore, I’ll write on my blog.

I’ll send out another update next week. I’ll also be posting Nick’s progress with the next chemo on Facebook like I did yesterday.

Please keep praying as the Lord leads.

Trying to remember that we do remain...

In His Grip,
Kristy Baxley