April 21, Day T-5, Campath is awful!

Today's update is a little more difficult to write.  One of our new drugs is tough to tolerate, to say the least.  Hunter finished up his 16 doses of busulfan at 2 this morning.  He had the one bout of nausea, but other than that felt really good for the four days he was on busulfan.

First thing this morning he got his pre-meds, (zofran) and then his infusion of Fludarabine (kills off immune system).  No problems there.  His next chemo drug for the day, Campath, was preceded with a steroid and benadryl to help prevent the "shake and bake" side effects.  About 10:00 the Campath was started.  He was given a massive dose of benadryl and supposed to have a big nap for the morning.  At 11:15 Hunter woke up and said he thought he was getting chilled.  I called the nurse right away, and she was immediately there with a dose of demerol.  By this time he was shaking uncontrollably.  His entire body was shivering and every muscle clenched.  He was put on oxygen, and given another shot of demerol to try and lessen the severity of the chills.  Jana and I were helpless.  We piled on the blankets and prayed the drugs would knock him out soon.  After about 45 minutes, he finally started to relax and drifted into a little bit of sleep.  About 30 minutes later, he woke up extremely nauseous and burning hot.  The normal treatment for fever and chills would be tylenol, but while busulfan is in your system you can't have tylenol products.  He was given some meds for the nausea, but there wasn't much we could do about his high fever.  We iced him down and Jana put cool washcloths on his head. Finally we got him cool enough that he could lay down and rest.  He has been miserable.  I feel like I could just burst into tears.  I did just that once he was asleep.

He has been resting for about and hour and a half as I write this.  He feels considerable cooler, but his temp is still 103.8.  I'm glad I didn't know how high his fever was earlier.  He just got a shot of steroid and iced down again to try and bring his fever back down.  The good news is that Campath is only once a day.  Usually, the first reaction is by far the strongest and the next three days should be easier.  Would you join me in praying for no more reactions?  We will be glad when this drug is finished.

Sky high fever, might be the only smile of the day.

Thank goodness for moms.  Hunter has got a good one.  In happier news...the boys had a great time with G-Daddy.  We got pictures of their nighttime ice cream snack.

The boys have had a good day at church, then an afternoon with their cousins.  It looks like they've enjoyed being outside and with family.

Poor Clayton, looks like he wasn't feeling the group photo here.

Tonight our church is having a family style carnival for Team Hanner tonight.  There will be games, music, and food for everyone to enjoy.  Southern Hills has been such and incredible blessing to us.  I will have to write back later with pictures from tonight.  We have had lots of encouragement today as the news got out about how Hunter was reacting to his Campath.  We are grateful, and feeling pretty emotional and worn out.  Thanks for keeping us on your prayer list.