Tuesday 1st September

No treatment but Tuesday is chemo day so off to the Kinderspital. We arrived an hour before our appointment, so they could take blood and get results in time for the main appointment.

We have to go to the laboratory area in the basement of the hospital to drop blood off for testing normally, but with no treatment today (they take the blood sample) we needed to get the hospital to take the blood. Only problem seemed to be that the staff couldn't agree on who would take Toby's blood as 12.30 was their lunch break. ('Computer says no' again!!) Four of them walked off down the corridor within a minute of our request, clearly for lunch. 20 minutes later and 20 minutes of a 2 and 4 year old running around, someone realised what had happened and apologised profusely before taking his blood. The finger prick route is great for not taking more blood than is absolutely necessary, but poor Toby has finally got used to his wigglies being used and then they go and use a different method. Not happy at all, but only for the minute or so it took. The promise of a plaster was no motivation for him, but the offer of a sweet turned the cry into a sob into silence.

This time the blood results looked much better. 2.4 Neutrophils, 12.4 Haemoglobin. Platelsts were fine in the 400's. So, he was OK for chemo. According to the protocol, they should reduce the amount of Vinorelbine for this cycle. They will also probably not give the 3rd dose, as protocol guidelines suggest but they'll review in the context of his blood count. In theory, given he had Vinblastine last time, we don't really know how that affected his bloods compared to the Vinorelbine.

The Vinorelibine was administered over a 5 minute period, during which time, both Toby and Sam were distracted with some little electronic toys.

Then we got the cyclophosphamide. Not in a bottle designed to last for 28 days like in England, but 7 days worth, pre-measured in syringes with caps on, wrapped in swaddling for transport! Just need to work out a routine for giving it to Toby daily, given he's nil by mouth in the mornings.

Then all done and with the weather still fantastic, we took a quick trip up the Seilbahn (2 min journey up the hill) for a fantastic view over Zurich, the Zurichsee, and to see as far as Mount Rigi.