Fourth chemo - Day 3

I was given IT on Tuesday prior to my chemo and yet again, the doctors could not get me to sleep with the sedation medicine! This time, they gave up trying to give me more sedatives, so they just held me down and got it over and done with quickly while I was awake. I wasn't too happy about that. For the first time after many such sedation episodes, I reacted to the drug. I broke out into some rashes, developed a fever, puked up, and turned bright red. My pulse rate doubled. My chemo was delayed another half a day as a result.

I don't seem to be tolerating this round of chemo as well as the previous round, despite the fact that the drugs and doses are exactly the same. Apart from not eating as with last time, I developed a fever this morning. This got Mummy and Daddy worried. The good news is the initial results from the blood culture show that it isn't an infection, which means my fever is probably due to the chemo drug I had (one of its common side is fever but we can't take chances so a blood culture had to be done).

Daddy has a theory as to why I am reacting on this round (both to the sedation medicine and to the chemo drug) even though I didn't on the previous ones! He reckons it could be because my white blood cell counts came up to such good levels prior to this round, so my body is reacting like any normal person's would in the face of toxic chemicals - fever etc. Some white blood cells are responsible for allergic reactions, and since they are much higher at the start of this round than in previous rounds, I am getting these reactions. My doctor thought it was a plausible explanation, so now Daddy thinks he can join the doctors on their morning rounds dispensing advice!

Emma, I didn't realise your parents liked Singapore that much to want to work and live here ... they only spent 2 days exploring! It would be wonderful to have you all here cos then I'll have another playmate, and more uncles and aunties around. Maybe you will let me play that I-throw-stuff-you-fetch-them game?!