I am Arjun Jain

Today was the big day as I finish my first phase of chemotherapy which is called Induction. I was getting the spinal tap with the chemotherapy and the bone marrow aspiration. My mom told me that it is done to check if I am in remission which means to check if all the bad cells are killed and the good cells are being produced. I heard the doctor say that we will get the results on Monday and that will tell us how my next phase of therapy is going to be.

I had to stay without the food after 11 pm last night which, you know, is very hard for me to handle now. We were in the car at 5:45 AM to head to CHOP clinic. I had thought many times in my mind, I wish I was going to school then I would be able to get distracted and be able to eat later. We reached at the clinic and started off with my routine blood work by accessing my port. Today it was tough for the nurse to get the blood out at first from my port so she had to take a huge syringe of saline and put it though my port while the other nurse was moving my bed up and down, my arm up and down and there it was, a big gush of blood coming out. Pheew !! Thank god my port was doing fine. My mom got worried about it but I could see her relieved. The results came out good with my ANC going up to 1540 which means that I am at a lower risk for infection. It also means that I will be able to go to school, my cousins can visit me and I can attend a birthday party for sometime. Hurray !!

As I was day dreaming about the food and all the nurses were having the good time discussing my food choices at 9 Am in the morning, the doctor came to take me for the anesthesia for the procedure. I was taken into the other room for the procedure and my parents had to wait outside. After 30 mins, I came out and started to wake up slowly. Let me tell you..it was not a good feeling. I was dizzy, with a headache and pain in the hip bone. I could not turn on my own and nurse helped me. I had to wait for an hour with the pain medication before we could leave the clinic for long ride home. When we reached home, it was tough to come out of the car and step down. My dad had to help me climb the steps and move around for a while.

Until night time, I was in pain in my hip bone, headache and some dizziness. My mom gave me a strong pain medication to make me feel better.

I hope I get good results on Monday from my bone marrow aspiration so that I can be cured fast and have a normal life!