~Chemo: Day -7 & -6~

**Sorry for the delayed post about yesterday's treatment.  I was in the middle of writing it and fell asleep!**

Monday, March 18th (Day -7)
Another day of chemo is complete and Logan and I are once again so grateful for how well things continue to go.  Eli is a total rock star and handled his third 8 hour dose like a champ!  The doctors expected him to stop eating within a couple days and he is still eating, in their words, like a piggy :) He's still sleeping a lot during the day and not much at night because the meds they give him make him tired but it hasn't been too bad because Logan has been off work and can take over during the day while I catch up on some sleep.  Thank goodness for such an awesome daddy!

Eli's central line still looks really good and is working great so they took out his picc line today.  I'm a major wuss and hate to be around when they do those things so I always go for a walk and let Logan stay with Eli.  Everything went really well and he now has both arms free of any type of line!  Happy day!  

After tomorrow's treatment he'll already be halfway done!

3 days down, 5 days to go!

Tuesday, March 19th (Day -6)
We are officially halfway done with chemo!  Logan and I are so proud of our little fighter.  Eli had another great day and handled everything really well.  The doctors keep expressing how impressed they are with how well he's eating and tolerating the chemo.  We knew a long time ago we had such a strong little guy!  Because his counts are continuing to decrease, he will be susceptible to just about anything and today he developed a pretty wicked diaper rash.  We've been using a cream after every diaper change but there's really no way to prevent it.  His little bum was only slightly red this morning and by this evening it was already bleeding :( We were able to get him some pretty strong cream to put on it so hopefully that helps a bit. 

We had a monumental moment last night!  Eli typically eats every hour and a half and sometimes he'll go two hours which means I'm up close to every hour at night.  I haven't hated it too much because he's gaining weight so well and I'm able to take a nap during the day if I need to.  Last night he went down shortly after 9:30 and I went to bed around 10:30 knowing he would be waking up any minute.  I heard him crying and woke up and it was 2:30!  I had to stare at the clock forever to see if I was having a hallucination or something.  Our nurse even came in and couldn't believe he had slept so long.  I didn't want to get too excited right away though because I was sure he was going to eat and be wide awake since he had slept so long but he ate and went back to bed for another 3 straight hours.  It was amazing and I felt like a new woman today!  Fingers crossed he can do that again!

For the next 4 days Eli will get two new chemo medicines so we're hoping he tolerates those as well as he has the first medicine.  The past four days he has received one 8 hour dose each day and starting tomorrow he will have a 2 hour dose every 6 hours for the next 4 days.  Sunday he will have a rest day and Monday will be his transplant!  

We are so grateful for all of the prayers that have been said on his behalf and know they are the reason he has done so well.  It is such a comfort to know so many people are supporting us and sending good thoughts our way.  Thank you, thank you!

4 days down, 4 days to go!  Fight on, little Eli!

Ps...Sorry for the lack of pictures.  I have been a slacker the past couple days but I will do better tomorrow!