Tucson Update

Noah is now half way through his intense chemotherapy and seems to be enduring it remarkably well.  The chemicals used this time shouldn't make him too sick but will take his blood counts down to almost nothing.  He's still able to eat and so that's always a good thing.  Yesterday afternoon was probably the worst so far in that he had a terrible headache.  Fortunately they were able to give him Tylenol and Benadryl and he finally went to sleep.  Today he was sitting up in bed and kept busy watching videos and playing video games.

The atmosphere in Tucson is much different than in Phoenix because it isn't a Children's Hospital and the children aren't allowed to play together or to socialize.  There isn't much of a playroom and no one seems to frequent it.  Another little Neuroblastoma patient last Fall requested that the Home version of the TV show Extreme Make Over redo the pediatric ward at the U of A Hospital.  The good news is that Disney came in and did a lot of sprucing up of the place.  Noah's room is decorated with a Buzz Lightyear theme.   Anyone who knew Noah when he was younger must remember how obsessed Noah was with Buzz for a very long time.  He has long since outgrown that as being something that he's interested in but it does seem rather appropriate.

The one thing that Noah was happy about is that he has access to a Play Station II which is a dream come true for him.  Lara can't believe the difference in nurse to patient ratio.  The nurse in Tucson is only responsible for two patients.  A far cry from the overworked nurses at Phoenix Children's.  The other nice thing is that the rooms are private rooms and Noah and whichever parent is staying with him aren't awakened in the night by having a roommate who might not be on the same sleeping schedule.  The other nice thing is that there is a cot rather than a chair for the parent to sleep.

We still have no news about any of the conflicting scans because it is the weekend and Lara hasn't heard from Dr. Graham. She hopes that she will hear something from him on Monday. She isn't sure how long the stay will be in Tucson.  It will be somewhere between ten days to three weeks.  So,  I haven't anything too much to report other than so far Noah is fairing pretty well considering the circumstances.  Grampa and Grandma Georgia are going down tomorrow and so maybe they will have something more to report when they get back.  It's hard to have a grasp as to what's going on when we're communicating by phone.

That's the latest and I'll let you know about anything else of interest that I hear about in the near future.

Much love,  Grandma

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