1000 words

MOMMY:

What a nice way to end the evening. Julien fell asleep a little early and Luis and I enjoyed the cool evening air. With my super cool Nikon on hand (thanks to Dr. Tam!), I had a great time capturing pictures of my big brave boy.

I took pictures...

...then he took pictures,

...then we used the tripod and timer and raced into position to take pictures together.

So much fun!

Luis seems to be feeling well, but an emergency trip to the hospital is always one fever away. He has a very weak immune system this week and has to be extremely careful not to pick up any infections. We wash our hands all day long, apply chapstick over and over again (I can't seem to stop him from chewing his lips though), and ensure we brush our teeth after every meal to keep mouth sores at bay. Thank you Dr. Peralta for the alcohol-free, antibacterial mouthwash. You are the best dentist in Kingsville!! :-)

Next week is tentatively the start of the 'interim maintenance' phase. However, it is 'count dependent', meaning that his platelets and neutrophils have to be high enough before they start the phase. The nurse we met with this week suspects that his counts won't come up that quickly. If that's the case, Luis will get a one week break from chemo to allow his body to rebound. It would be nice for him not to be neutropenic for a while. It's hard telling him that he can't go to the park or the library because we don't want to pick up sick germs. We're stuck at home most of the time but try to make the most of it.