Daniel had a good night and so far today has had a really good day. I have worked on trying to decorate the room a bit, drawing some Greenbay Packers stuff on the windows and Daniel has eaten and eaten and then eaten some more. Last night and then through the night he already received his first two doses of chemotherapy and apparently it is not effecting his appetite, smell or taste yet. We walked, tried to ride the stationary bike, but it was already too hot in the corner where the work out equipment is set up near the windows (I can imagine what it is like outside today in Denver-yuck!) and had an awesome visit with Mr. Hay and Mr. Snyder from school...and then we ate some more. Just to give everyone the low down on Daniel's chemotherapy schedule since people have been asking days 1-4 (yesterday was already day 1) he will get on particular type of drug twice a day and then on days 3-6 he will get a different type of drug. So he will be done receiving the actual chemotherapy by Sunday. Of course it keeps working in his system for a long time after. Doctors said the side effects can start showing very quickly but so far unless one is a craving for food we are doing okay. As far as the duration of his stay it will still be a month, because he will become neutropenic very soon, which means his numbers (or white blood count along with many other different blood counts) will go down making him very infectious and susceptible to every little thing. They expect very high fevers along with possibilities of various infections but they will be controlled as they arise. All in the realm of normal with this fucker Cancer.
One exciting thing in the works, as we are all settled in here for the month, is that Mimi Pomeranz, and our wonderful dream team of angels are working to coordinate a bone marrow drive to get everyone signed up here in Denver who wants to try and be a match donor for Daniel. We know that those closest in racial and ethnic background have the best chance of matching, although we laughed today about Mr. Hay (our Principal) being a match for Daniel. Wouldn't that be a kick in the ass. But you never know. Those of you that are not in Denver, I encourage you to go to your local bank to get a mouth swab done. It is that easy. If you "Give a Spit", go sign up for Daniel and take a chance and get on the registry. You may just win an all inclusive trip to Denver to spend some time with the Hailpern Family. So I ask you, are you feeling lucky?