Hey there- another uneventful day to report- thank goodness!

After I posted the update yesterday, Mason had a few stomach cramps- this has been happening the last few days toward the end of the night and is different from the nausea that he is familiar with. He has been using heating packs directly on the abdomen to relax the muscles there, which has helped with some of the pain. He was a serious fighter and managed to take all seven of his chemo pills, as well as his other oral medicine, even while using the heating pack on the muscles.

We had a nice night and were ready for lights out by his final lab draw at midnight (this mama was ready WAY before that, but he wasn't really tired or ready to sleep until then). Because he is stable, they were able to let us sleep for a full six hours before they needed to come back in for vitals. Mason managed to sleep through the entire night as well- he felt well rested when he finally woke up for the day around 9 this morning.

We had a busy morning- he had an echo cardiogram and an EKG- both of which are standard weekly tests just to monitor his heart function and make sure he's doing well. His blood counts were low this morning, so he also received two units of blood. While they were starting the transfusion, PT arrived. Mason was able to set the workout and powered through six exercises. Did I mention that all of these things were happening within the same 15 minute window?

It was a bit overwhelming- but after that, we were able to enjoy a quiet day together. (Ok- that might be an exaggeration. We were together in the room. It wasn't necessarily "quiet." Mason was playing a game on the PlayStation with Alex and I read through a full 200 pages of what to expect during the transplant process. It's a lot of information. And apparently the boys think they can cuss when I'm not paying attention- it got them in trouble multiple times this afternoon. And also felt so incredibly NORMAL.)

I was able to speak with the doctors and get more information about the length of this particular round of chemo. While they would usually expect to see a recovery in the blood counts during this week, because Mason will remain on the chemo pills until day 28 (July 28), it is unlikely we will see any recovery until at least that time and possibly not until day 36 (approximately August 5). So we are aiming for a possible break at home during the first week of August, if all goes the way we hope it does.

As we wait for that time, Mason continues to tolerate this treatment as well as he can. He continues to be in a pretty good mood a majority of the time. He continues to get up and move as much as he can. We had a visitor today- a family friend who stopped by with treats for Mason (and for me)- and who is a physical therapist that reinforced the importance of Mason getting up and moving around. He agreed to keep working on it.

Mason had a hearty dinner of wild rice casserole from home, a grape ice pop, a handful of Skittles and is finishing it off with some buttered popcorn. He's washing it all down with a cold Dr. Pepper, which we discovered they do not actually sell within the hospital itself. Thank goodness for Ms. Katherine's delivery today!

We just finished the chemo pills for tonight and are waiting on a platelet transfusion, as his numbers remain low and he had a bit of bleeding in his mouth today. We are hoping for another quiet night.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!