Day -8

Today was another good day.  Zevi has been playing, had energy, showed his famous smile.  Ate little, but drank some juice and fortified milk.  He is not yet on IV feeding, though nutritionist said we may start adding nutrition via IV over night.

At this time Zevi has received one dose of Busulfan.  Even that was not without some excitement.  The exact dose was calculated based on the "test-dose" administered early Tuesday and several subsequent blood measurements.  The samples were sent to a specialized lab in Seattle and, based on the analysis, computations were made.  The dose they came up with is a fair bit higher than the test dose, which spooked Alla.  She ended up holding nurses at bay for over an hour while we received confirmation of the dosage from the physician.  In the mean time Alla got her hands on the analysis report from Seattle and forwarded it to me.  Needless to say, this was discussed with very knowledgeable folks (thank you, Ken!) who, pretty much, told us to shut up and let the professionals work.  The shutting up part was hard for your truly, as well as Grandpa Misha - two physicists saw a log-normal graph and finally had something to sink their teeth into.  Pharmacokinetics, you say? Close enough!  Surely, we can improve on the process.

In the end, the treatment is proceeding.  I suspect, so will my digging, much to the chagrin of some docs at OHSU as well as Boston Children's and possibly some people in Seattle - but such is life.  We are diggers and question askers.

I came by fairly late in the day and again Alla and I gave Zevi a bath.  It was a slow start.  In particular, the process of applying the "aquaguard" tape was not hit (removal even less so, though neither actually hurt).  Once we got going, however, Zevi had fun.  Back in the room, washed, dry, clothed, he was comfortable among the toys with mom, blanket, snake, iPad, and dad (not sure on the order of iPad vs. the snake, but otherwise I got the priority list right).

At this point the room is saturated with decals, stuffed animals, various airplanes, cars, mylar balloons, one train and a Marine helicopter with a Mexican flag on the tail (ya, me neither).  Please, do not send toys.  Suggestions of board games or truly original toy ideas are welcome, of course.  If some of you feel like it - I think Zevi would enjoy receiving cards.  Russian is preferable, but I am pretty sure we can manage to translate for him too.

Naturally, I forgot to ask the nurses for the address.  A mistake that shall be rectified tomorrow.

Finally, a couple of pics.

There is the smile!  Taking a bath with air power on display.  Bandage strictly decorative for the last three days.  8/6/14

Lightning McQuinn pillow, Maya the Snake, blanket, a gorgeous quilt (gift of some hospital folks) and the iPad.  Oh, and the bed has buttons and moves.  Not too shabby.