Last night started out great. The sleep study allowed Kevin to fall asleep peacefully, and he actually got over 2 hours of uninterupted sleep. Unfortunately when the nurse came in later that night (3 a.m rather), Kevin responded in a way I've not seen in many years. He was hysterical and wouldn't make eye contact. He was screaming and crying uncontrollably. He didn't respond at all to my voice or the nurses instruction. He also wasn't making sense, as all she needed to do was take his temperare orally then go right back to sleep. It was really concerning, because usually when he gets upset he's still himself, and will respond to me or the nurse. The nurse left the room to see if I could calm him down. I climbed in bed with him (normally a no-no) and tried to sooth him. Eventually he seemed to fall back to sleep, then awoke and was okay (about a 5 minute process). She came in took his temp, and he was fine. I went outside and talked with the nurse, and we both concluded that he had a "night terror". This morning I brought it up, and he had absolutely no recollection, which sealed it. It was deja vu for me. Both Rachel and I went through this many years ago with Kevin when he was a toddler. It was one of the scarriest things I had been through because he wouldn't or couldn't respond to us. Of course this whole Brain tumor "thing" has surpassed that by a country mile. I'm not an expert on the subject, but I'm sure there's a correlation between his night terrors and pent up stress and/or fear he's experiencing with this whole ordeal. Just as when he had night terrors many years ago, there was probably a link to Rachel and I having gone through our divorce. He's very close to both of us, so it's tough to not have any ability to console him when he's in that state. Thankfully he doesn't have any recollection of it, so that's at least some consolation. I hope and pray that this doesn't become a pattern. He did have a few last time around several years ago, but they never returned again until now. I guess if they continue we'll talk to one of St. Jude's fine Psychologist on staff, to try and work something out.....but I don't want to necessarily get ahead of myself.........Okay, now the good news. Having spoken to Rachel a few times today, Kevin seems to be handling his cisplanten and Amophostamine (sic) doses very well compared to the first cycle. They let him sleep in today (partly because of what happened last night), so he got a late start on chemo. His Hemoglobin was a little short of the requirment to begin the cycle (not abnormal) so they also had to do a blood transfusion this morning first before chemo. Once his HMG level was at the proper level (I think 10) they started chemo around 1:30. I left around noon, and Rachels reports were very positive. He's napping quite a bit, but hasn't had the violent vomiting that he suffered last cycle. Let's hope this continues. A little nausea is no problem, but seeing him suffer through uncontrollable bouts last cycle was really rough. Tomorrow he starts theCyclophosamate, which means once again he'll need to urinate every 2 hours to protect his bladder from hemmoraging. We'll cross that bridge when it arrives. I better get ready to go to the hospital for my nigh shift.
Take Care,
Eric
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