Today is Zoe’s first of two doses of Melphalan, one of the more harsh medications that are part of her Reduced Intensity Conditioning regimen. She’ll get it today and tomorrow, then Thiotepa on Monday.

We’re told that Melphalan starts to take significant effect about 24 hours after it’s given, so we may not see much reaction today. We keep going into these days expecting the “other shoe” to drop, to see some really harsh reactions, but so far we have not.

Zoe got her Melphalan around noon, and hasn’t had any reactions as of 3:30. She dozed off and woke up very fussy a couple times, however, much more than usual — she rarely cries and she was very upset each time.

I am attributing that to soreness from her surgery yesterday, and we’re going to see about getting some pain medication for the rest of the day. We set up an “as needed” pain prescription before the primary doctor left last night for just that purpose.

It’s a little disconcerting to see Zoe reattached to the complex IV rig again, we were so pleased when she was done with that at her first hospital. This time we’re less hesitant though, less unsure about where we’re going. Zoe is hooked up to get cured, not to “manage” a disease, and somehow that makes a difference.