First Injection and D.C. Excursion

Travis started Peg-interferon today, I think the injection was around 11:15a Eastern time (10:15a Central, 9:15a Mountain). We slept in a little later today since we didn't need to be to the NIH Clinical Center as early as on Monday. We ate pancakes again and then we headed to the appointment.

Light snowfall on our way to today's appts.

Travis played in the room while the nurse, Kim from yesterday, taught me how to prep and administer the injection. Travis saw the needle and realized he would receive a shot to get this medicine. Kim offered to let Travis practice giving an injection into the pad, he declined. Soon the time came to give Travis his first Peg-interferon injection.

T playing iPad while I learned how to
administer the injection.

We walked into an exam room and tears came to our eyes as we both knew was what next. I don't know of many people that actually like getting shots. Those minutes were some of the hardest and emotional I've ever had in my life, thank you for the prayers and I could feel the strength through prayers. We decided to have Travis sit in Kim's lap when I gave T the injection. Anne (Wendy's job share counterpart) watched as I started Travis on the clinical trial. I don't know if it will ever be "easy" (I'll take routine if we get shrinkage or slowed growth); however, I felt okay enough with giving the shot. T and I gave each other a big hug and he was more than ready to leave the room and go play.

Dr. Widemann, Andrea, and T
as we left the Peds Clinic

A frosted cinnamon roll worked as a
substitute donut.

Travis stayed in the waiting area playing games to be watched by the nurses for any reactions early on (their idea) while I went to get his prescriptions (Peg-interferon, Tylenol, Ibuprofen) and drop off a form at medical records. I appreciated the alone time to gather my thoughts, shed a few tears, and process the morning. Travis enjoyed playing games and receiving a handful of chocolate for handling the shot. Dr. Widemann happened to pass through with the PA we will see tomorrow, but T was ready to go find a donut (or a substitute) and quickly said "Hi" to them.

After the donut, we headed back to our room and thanks to the helpful shuttle driver on the way, we decided to venture to D.C. for a quick glance at a site or two. We took T's medicine and phone numbers and off we went to explore the process of getting to D.C. on the Metro (Red Line). Due to a little mis-information by a station manager, we ended up at a station with a broken elevator. We talked with another station manager and she helped us get to another station a few blocks from the White House.

Shortly after we arrived at street level and were determining which direction to go, we heard sirens. I looked up the street and saw a police car with lights followed by quite a few black vehicles of various makes/models and a final police car with lights. I think the we saw the President go by from about 1/2 block away...pretty cool!!! We checked the street signs and noticed that the road was Pennsylvania Avenue and we were at block 1200, we headed toward the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and toward the White House and Washington Monument (I never realized the close proximity of those 2 sites).

T viewing the White House

The White House, notice the vehicle's open trunk

Travis started feeling not good in D.C. (we were told 4-6 hours after injection, so not surprised), so we quickly viewed the White House and Washington Monument from the street, took a few pics (T didn't want his taken), and headed to the Metro station to return to the NIH (not an easy hike uphill pushing a power chair).

The Washington Monument

Mom's "selfie" at the White House

T fell asleep on the way back to the NIH and woke up enough to take his next Tylenol dose and drive when needed. He quickly fell back asleep at the room and thankfully the fever responds to both Tylenol and Ibuprofen. We check out of the Children's Inn in the morning and go for his appointment for vital signs and injection site reaction (if any). Most patients feel almost back to normal in the morning and so far his reactions are similar to those of prior patients (an advantage of being one of the last to enroll in a particular clinical trial). The plan will be to catch our flight home, praying T gets an all-clear/looks good and hoping the weather doesn't affect hinder any plans with our layover.

Thank you for joining us in this journey. Words cannot begin to describe the feeling I had at 11a when it came time to give Travis the injection, I could feel all the prayers. Time to "spank the tumor".