Day -6 of Stem Cell Transplant #1

Theofanis continues to feel good as therapy continues into the second day of therapy.

The day began at 4 am when the overnight nurse woke up Theo for his shower. A groggy mom and son sleepily headed to the bathroom and rinsed off the secreted chemo from his body while his nurse changed his bed sheets. His clothes and dressing was changed and he quickly fell back asleep.

Then, promptly at 9 am, the Stem Cell medicine bag arrived and his second day of high dose chemo began. Like yesterday, he was given Thiotepa for two hours.

Then, the day continued on as he did some homework, made some legos, watched some TV, and ate a little bit, only to be interrupted by the continuous mouth rinses, showers, clothing and linen changes.

But, amongst the steady flow of activities, boredom started to settle in. And sadness, too. Reality struck in the evening when Theo was video chatting with his sisters and dad via Face Time and he calmly announced, "I hate my life." And Eleni and Kosta, on opposite ends of the ipad screens, tried to hold back their tears and re-assuringly tell their son and daughters that this is temporary and the days will go by quickly and that everything will be ok.

And then Kosta and Eleni quickly turned the focus on the good news that they received earlier in the day. The doctors made a special concession for Friday and approved a "quick visit" by Theo's sisters. The nice folks in Child Life organized a family portrait day with an group called "Flashes of Hope." A photographer would be visiting the hospital to take photos of patients with their parents. And, when Kosta and Eleni asked if Deme and Sophia could come, the request had to go through several stamps of approval. IF the girls were absolutely healthy (no coughing, runny noses, sneezing, fever, etc.) then they could come for the photo! Hurray! The family would be together tomorrow, even for a short period of time!