A nurse gets Alex and does his vitals: blood pressure, temperature, weight.  He weighs 48.7 kilos, down a kilo maybe from last week but up from the lows of 45ish.  The nurse puts an IV line into Alex's "VAD"  This is a "vascular access device" that they surgically implanted in his chest the first week we were here.  It saves you getting poked in the arm every visit.  They can take blood out.  And put chemo in.  He's "hooked up"  as they call it.

He gets some saline fluid dripping in along with an IV of anti-nausea medication and comes back to the waiting room to wait for the LP.  They come and get us after a few minutes.  Alex picks Avatar as movie to watch while they feed a sedative into his arm.  They wait a few minutes for it to take effect and then I have to leave the room.