We’ve had a few days of mostly steady progress, with the usual minor ups and downs to keep us on our toes! Ben has been getting used to his feeding tube; however after having had a little pizza as a treat, he brought that and the tube up. Sad to see him so upset once he realised he would need to have another tube fitted. The upside of the tube has been that it does take the pressure off of him, and us having to continually remind him to eat, drink and take oral medicines, and so as with so much of what has been going on, it’s about trading short term discomfort for a longer term benefit. It is frequently a challenge to get a ten year old to see those benefits though!
Other than this, he seems to be recovering decently, and the doctors can see his blood counts picking up, which is good news. Apparently we can expect another bone marrow aspiration and the second phase of chemotherapy in the next couple of weeks.
Of course all of this is against the longer-term background of a stem cell transplant in future, for us there are still a lot of unknowns and uncertainties around this, which can be difficult to deal with, especially now that the adrenalin of the first couple of weeks of this journey has passed.
As ever we are grateful for everyone’s support and kindness, and the welcome distractions of postcards and packages, visits from therapy dogs and the temporary appearance of a (shared!) Nintendo Switch are much appreciated 🙂