Methotrexate

So far, Zac had tolerated the treatment well.  Then came the methotrexate.  Even the name sounds bad.  It had a luminous yellow, almost nuclear look to it.  It also made his wee luminous yellow, and it stung.  Zac was placed on hyperhydration- a high volume of fluid intravenously- to help flush the methotrexate through his kidneys to try and minimise any damage to them.  What goes in must come out so he needed the toilet a lot and we would be taking him or changing his nappy almost hourly, sometimes we’d miss this through the night, and he would soak through the bed.  Again, this is something that we would become used to dealing with during the high dose chemo, but that first night dealing with the hyperhydration was a baptism of fire, especially as at the time we were sharing the bay with 3 other children and their parents, and you were conscious of not wanting to disturb them too.