U of C Days 3 through 5

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Ours was fairly uneventful, which is actually good. Leo started his chemo on Friday and was getting two doses each day. He isn't feeling horrible side effects yet, but based on our experience last time, it will not hit till about a week. He is starting to get a weird coating on the inside of his mouth which I remember from last time. He says it leaves a funny taste in his mouth and a somewhat oily feeling. Doesn't sound pleasant at all, nor does it look any better and it's making him lose his appetite to eat. So that is the worst of his symptoms so far. He's also getting these crazy hiccups that won't go away. Kinda funny at first, but then theyprevent him from sleeping, which is not good. Hopefully they will go away soon.

He started his first doses of TBI on Monday. First dose is at 9am and second at 5 pm. With transport and all the treatments take about 2 hours. He was a bit nervous yesterday morning, but after he did the first treatment, he said it was ok. A bit claustrophobic, but fine. Again, not feeling the side effects of this treatment either, but I suspect it will come around later this week or just after the transplant, which is scheduled for Friday.

They cancelled the ultrasound that I mentioned in the previous post. The elevated counts that they were concerned about normalled out, so they didn't see a need to do it anymore. One less thing to worry about.

Thanks so much to everyone that came by to visit this weekend and yesterday! Nalini, Arvin, Patrick, Allan, Vanessa, Karl and our parents. It really lifts Leo's spirits when he has visitors, so we really really appreciate it. At this point, I think knowing that our friends and family are there for us is the best form of healing for him. Thank you again.

Also, as people have been asking, the best way to get in touch with Leo is either by MSN messenger (leorivera25@hotmail.com) or via his Facebook account. He's actually been more active with the account I created for him. He posts status updates on what's going on at the hospital and the games help him pass the time (Mafia Wars! Hahaha....) Also, he's usually on Skype (user ID bernadette_rivera), so you can try that too. So if you're looking to get in touch with him, these ways are usually the best. If he doesn't recognize a number that comes up on his cell, he won't answer, so try these other ways instead.