Double Whammy Day

Today was a big day for Nico.  He started his radiation treatment at Mayo Clinic this morning.  Everything went smoothly and much faster than projected.

Afterward we headed over to Phoenix Children’s Hospital for his week 13 VAC chemo.  He was supposed to get this last week but we had a bit of a delay.  Our first weekend here Nico had a fever and was admitted for a couple days since his counts were low.  He also received his first blood transfusion since his hemoglobin was somewhat low.  They decided to discharge him last Monday even though his counts were still low and delayed the chemo he was supposed to get that Thursday.  I think that was good for him.  He has had a lot of energy this past week and a big appetite.

Getting discharged last Monday after an unexpected admission due to fever and low counts.

Exam room at PCH before being admitted for his overnight chemo.

Enjoying the toys that shoot stuff on 7th floor playroom.

Dinner time

Nico’s counts came back great today!  His blood work was all normal or higher except for his potassium which was just barley below normal.  Nico and Nick are staying overnight tonight.  Since he has radiation tomorrow morning at Mayo but will not yet be discharged from PCH, he will be transported via ambulance.  He is excited about that.  They will get to come home tomorrow afternoon/evening.  This is his bigger chemo that usually makes his appetite plummet for a few days afterward.  Thankfully we have the NG tube in place and some liquid nutrition (which is whole plant food based-score!) that we will supplement with until his appetite returns.

We have settled in well and found that as long as we can get out of our closed quarters the day flows a bit better.  The Phoenix Zoo is really close to where we are staying and is a very nice Zoo so we got a family pass to use while we are here.  We plan on going there A-LOT!  We’ve also acquainted ourselves with the local library since the boys love books and being read to.  There are also some nice walking trails right across the street from us that we’ve already explored a bit.  I’m excited about getting out in nature during our free time and soaking in the vitamin D.

Lovely evening walk with 75 degree temps!

We were so stressed after hiking up to hole-in-the-rock and the boys kept wanting to run around on the smooth/slippery rocks! #realLife

Carousel ride to end an afternoon at the zoo.

Nali- 6 weeks old ❤