Well Alex has been on maintenance chemo for four weeks now and things seem to be going well. His hair is growing in a bit and he seems to have no major side effects other than a constant queasiness. He is learning how to manage the nausea. He knows when he can and should eat and when the best time to exercise is. It appears that running in the morning makes him very nauseous whereas running late at night a couple of hours after dinner is fine. Certain foods set him off as well so he is learning to manage all of that. Right now he is still not at 100% dosage on some of the meds. We hope that as they increase the dosages, he won't get sicker.
He has also been working on his tan. He is so dark but looks so healthy.

The last Hong Kong chemo treatment was yesterday. All went well and we are so glad that medical team here at Queen Mary Hospital was able to follow the protocol as outlined by our US doctor. In the end the two protocols were not that different so it was fine. We will miss having to only pay $100 HKD ($13 USD for each visit) and having all of the chemo drugs and other medications included. There is something to be said for Public Health. We only had to pay for one particular drug ($3,000 USD) and the PET CT scan ($1,500 USD). The drug in the US cost us over $4,000 and the PET CT costs $6,000! So even when we do have to pay here, it's a lot cheaper.

This is a big week for Alex. It started on Sunday with a Baccalaureate Service and the Senior Dinner. It was a wonderful evening to kick off graduation week. Alex will present his Senior Project (getting fit after chemo) on Wednesday, speak at the Senior Community Gathering on Thursday and then finally attend the Senior Breakfast and Graduation on Friday. And in between all of this are some other celebratory dinners and gatherings. It is a fun time and we are all enjoying his accomplishments.

We all return to the US for the summer in a couple of weeks. Alex is looking forward to getting his Driver's License. Not sure I am ready for that. It's nice that we are starting to look forward to the normal things in life. There is still 16 more months of chemo but as always we will take it a day at a time.

Alex has had a great week. He spent all day last Wednesday at the Aberdeen track watching the HKIS Track Team compete. It was a gorgeous spring day and Alex took full advantage of the sunshine. His shirt was off the entire time and he came home with a red bald head and tan body. The red head soon turned into a nice tan base to head. He then spent a couple of hours over the weekend at the beach to build on that tan. He is looking quite healthy! As he feels better, he is venturing out more which is good. He hasn't been too consistent with his running but I'm sure that will come.

Counts finally came up enough to begin Maintenance Chemo. We started yesterday and it was hard for all of us to gear up mentally for it. It's been a nice respite for Alex not to have to take any drugs for the last 3 -4 weeks. Yesterday, he had a lumbar puncture and Vincristine. He is also starting up on all of the oral medication. Yesterday, he took 18 pills in all. That was difficult to know that he had to start up on the pills again. The bulk of the pills are steroids and they only need to be taken for 5 days of every 28 days. The rest are either chemo drugs (every day), antibiotics (precautionary- 3 days a week) and acid reducing medication (to be taken with steroids). He didn't seem to feel too bad after the lumbar puncture. We'll see if he gets a spinal headache today. They are also starting the 6-MP (chemo drug) at a lower dosage and will increase as we go. This is the drug that has us worried since it made Alex so nauseous before. Hopefully with the rest and recovery time he has had, he won't experience any side effects. Fingers crossed.

Prom is in a couple of weeks and graduation is a month away. Glad he is able to enjoy what is left of his senior year. In the meantime, I'm sure he'll be working on his tan!