Today is Day 3 of Reconsolidation. After a slight delay because counts were too low, Alex began the last phase of his intensive treatment on Monday. We were in the hospital from about 9am on Monday until 2pm on Tuesday. In that time, Alex received chemo through a lumbar puncture, IV and oral meds. In all, he received 4 different chemo drugs as well as a precautionary antibiotic, a precautionary anti-inflammatory for the bladder, anti nausea medication and blood thinning medication. He was also given hydration fluids for 20 hours to help flush everything through his system.

Alex was feeling pretty good going into all of this, so hopefully he won't get bogged down by the nausea. If we can keep that at bay, he will be fine. A lot of this is psychological as well as physiological so we are trying to stay as positive as possible and keep him distracted.

It's been nice that Alex can focus on the future a bit. Last week he selected his dorm room for fall. He wanted to be in the same room he stayed in for Cross Country camp last summer (Room 1210 of Merrill Hall). His assigned time to log on was at 5:30 AM Hong Kong time (3:30pm Utah time). He was barely awake but managed to log on and navigate the system to get to the hall and floor he wanted and sure enough his room was available. He was very excited. His good friend, Ryan will be two doors down from him. They decided not to be roommates so they could meet other people but I'm glad they are on the same floor. Ryan has been a tremendous friend and support through this journey.

We are now in the middle of Season 3 of Top Chef. We watched 4 episodes while at the hospital and two after we got home. This would've been a very different journey without this whole food/cooking thing. There's usually not much common ground between a 17 year old boy and his mother, especially if his whole world was running and hers was not. These food shows have helped so much in that they've captivated our attention and have given us something to focus on that's not cancer related.