May 4

Just a quick update.  Kerry is now finished with Round 3 of the Interleuken 2 treatment.  He finished  a total of 8 doses out of a possible 14 for the week.  He had a couple of days of shake and bake (bad chills and slight fever) followed by pretty low blood pressure. But Demerol, Neosynephrine, Neurontin and a few more medications too numerous to mention got him through the week.  It seems that his reaction to the IL2 is getting more severe -- which they say is to be expected.   So he was not disappointed when they told him this morning that he was done for the week. Hopefully he will come home tomorrow if they can wean him off all of the meds.

Even though he had a room with a tremendous view, we will all be glad for the week to be over and for him to be home where we only have a view of our small back yard. The sadly ironic thing about this great room was that they put the patient bed in a part of the room that didn't have much of a view.   And because he was hooked up to so many things, the bed was not mobile.  Every day I just shook my head and wondered what the hospital designers were thinking.  But I guess that's a minor complaint as long as they can get him through the treatment in one piece.