Could it be?

We started round 5 of chemo this week.  We were admitted on Monday and the craziest thing happened.  I will start from the beginning.  As many of you know, Ari has had some fairly large issues with nausea outside of chemo nausea.  The doctors and nurses actually said that they have never seen a case so bad.  This is not one of those things you want to hear about your son, of course.  The next step for us was a consult with Boston Children's Hospital and another GI consult to see if something was missed.  The idea that Ari could have allergies was thrown around but dismissed fairly quickly.  The biggest question for the doctors was why his body was creating so much mucus and phlegm.  The stomach obviously does not want it there.

When we arrived on Monday, Ari had already thrown up 9 times between the times of 6 a.m. and noon.  This is very typical for him.  We were admitted around noon and they gave him some Benadryl to help him sleep.  He has received Benadryl many times before to help with sleeping and nausea.  Colby and I didn't realize that his other nausea drugs for the day had not been given yet. Ari went from noon to midnight and didn't throw up once and his chemo had started during that time!  Talk about crazy!  We decided to hold off on all other nausea meds besides his chemo nausea med and Benadryl and see what happened.  Sure enough, Ari had a great night with only a couple very small bouts of vomiting.

By the morning, I was bursting at the seams to talk to a doctor about what had just happened!  I mean we have used Benadryl in the past to try and help control his chemo nausea.  Honestly, Benadryl has never really helped Ari with chemo nausea.  Those drugs are just too crazy!  But this time the Benadryl was controlling his mucus production, thus helping with his nausea that is unrelated to the chemo, the nausea that was often attributed to the fact that Ari was just a "brain tumor kid."

After talking to the doctors, who were as stunned as we were, they confirmed that there is a good chance he has allergies which have caused his body to create mucus, and his already sensitive stomach can't handle this.  We have been on chemo for three days now and Ari is still experiencing some nausea that normally comes along with the chemo, but it is nothing like what he has experienced before.  Relief!  Praise Jesus for a few days of sweet relief!  Praise Jesus that they may have found the cause and an easy way to fix this horrible nausea he has faced!   They are going to try some kind of allergy medicine once we get through this week of chemo so he isn't zonked all the time from Benadryl.

Thank you to the many people who have prayed for Ari's nausea to stop and for answers to be found.  We have no doubt that God led us to this answer.  We are hopeful Ari will have genuine relief and that this will open doors for him to learn to eat and drink again.

Below are a few videos from when we were in the hospital on Monday afternoon.  You can tell Ari feels good and is happy to have a little break for his body!    We are so thankful for these sweet moments!

Ari and Daddy are being silly.  It's such a sweet sound!

Ari has some pretty good smiles in this one!

Sorry this one is sideways, but I couldn't not add it.  Colby gets the best little giggles out of this boy!

Below are some photos of Ari at home and in the hospital.

Ari and Colby are working on sitting and playing again.

Ari is getting chemo through his Omayya port.  He did a very good job of staying still.  The doctor and nurse were amazing.  They even sang songs with Colby and me as we were trying to keep him calm.  

Ari was seriously loving his animal book.  He even tried to mimic the sheep, monkey, and lion sound.  Super cool! 

Ari was "enjoying" a little hospital PT time.  They come right at nap so he is always a little grumpy for them, understandably so.