Its been a long time since the last blog so will try and keep things brief. Hopefully our time away from the blog is an indicator our time has been adjusted to living life again.
Nathan has had a month of going to school and is adjusting. Every day has its trials and tribulations but he is progressing which is the main thing. He has also gotten back into hockey and music. Our last visit to the clinic was Dec 14 and although his neutrophils were good, his platelettes were only 47. Nathan was taken off of his chemo drugs for the week and he didn't play any sports this week. We will go again to the clinic on Monday to see where his counts are at.
Carter and Nathan had their Christmas school performance on Tuesday night. Roughly 320 kids on and off the stage and they did amazing. Carter says he doesn't like to sing but does so well at it. Nathan was tired but still managed to get on stage and participate so we were happy to see him up there. Carter also had his piano recital Friday night and did very well. It amazes me how they don't mind getting up on stage.
I have been busy shopping and wrapping while Arron has been busy making the skating rink in the back yard. He tried to level out the area where the rink was going and he got it close but it is taking a lot of effort to flood it.
The kids are excited for Christmas and we are busy with preparations. Hopefully one more solid day tomorrow and we should be able to enjoy next week. We will have a nice break before the start of the new year brings my return to work full time with days off for Nathan's clinic visits.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Maintenance Day 6
It feels like its been a long week....
Carter had surgery yesterday and he did so well. He was nervous about the procedure but was very mature about the entire situation. We arrived at the hospital around noon and by 2:45pm he was in with the Dr for repair of the hernia. His doctor confirmed that he had an inguinal hernia and would have had it from birth. When the testes descended the passage didn't completely close leaving a small hole that was allowing fluid to pass. The dr indicated that quite often it goes undetected until teenage years when a sport injury causing a larger hernia resulting in emergency surgery. Carter handled the anestia well and woke good. he was really sleepy though. We were home around 6pm.
Today Carter moved slowly and carefully but wasn't in any discomfort. So we will see how tomorrow goes before determining when he will go back to school.
Nathan had a week of adjusting. Since his counts were high enough he went to school Wed and Thursday morning and then all day Friday. Its hard going back after being gone. His friends are there but there is not routine to go out with them for recess so that left Nathan disappointed. Time will fix that. He also had a teacher come twice last week, an hour each time to try and get him caught up. It was cute tonight as he asked if tomorrow was a school day but I said no. So he asked if we could make it a school day at home. He would like to get caught up so that he can get back on chart again. I wonder where he heard that line from!
Today was the last dose of the steroid for 3 more weeks. Man that throws Nathan all over the board emotionally. He was flying high today though and was determined he wasn't going to hockey. I convinced him he should try and when we got there, comedian Nathan appeared. He had the kids in the dressing room in stiches. 3 times dressed and 3 times to the bathroom. I had to take his skates off once as they were on too long. And then standing and waiting to go on the ice, I over heard another parent say her younger son was sick with the Chicken pox. The older son plays with Nathan and the younger boy there at hockey and was in the dressing room when Nathan and the other kids were getting dressed. So how close of contact does one need to be to be at risk of getting the virus? The concern with a compromised immune system is inability to fight it. So the clinic has said if in contact with someone with the virus Nathan would need a special shot in order to help his immune system. I don't know the stage other than was still blistering and was really itchy. And what is the definition of in contact. The boys were at least 10 feet apart. But then tonight I had a thought - the mom brought the jerseys so can the virus transfer to clothing? So Monday I will need to call the clinic to find out if we need to do anything. Frustrating to say the least.
Tomorrow will be a quiet day - cleaning and hopefully get some decorating done. The outside is done and hope to start working on the inside. We are looking forward to enjoying the season's traditions this year and hoping for a little normalcy.
Carter had surgery yesterday and he did so well. He was nervous about the procedure but was very mature about the entire situation. We arrived at the hospital around noon and by 2:45pm he was in with the Dr for repair of the hernia. His doctor confirmed that he had an inguinal hernia and would have had it from birth. When the testes descended the passage didn't completely close leaving a small hole that was allowing fluid to pass. The dr indicated that quite often it goes undetected until teenage years when a sport injury causing a larger hernia resulting in emergency surgery. Carter handled the anestia well and woke good. he was really sleepy though. We were home around 6pm.
Today Carter moved slowly and carefully but wasn't in any discomfort. So we will see how tomorrow goes before determining when he will go back to school.
Nathan had a week of adjusting. Since his counts were high enough he went to school Wed and Thursday morning and then all day Friday. Its hard going back after being gone. His friends are there but there is not routine to go out with them for recess so that left Nathan disappointed. Time will fix that. He also had a teacher come twice last week, an hour each time to try and get him caught up. It was cute tonight as he asked if tomorrow was a school day but I said no. So he asked if we could make it a school day at home. He would like to get caught up so that he can get back on chart again. I wonder where he heard that line from!
Today was the last dose of the steroid for 3 more weeks. Man that throws Nathan all over the board emotionally. He was flying high today though and was determined he wasn't going to hockey. I convinced him he should try and when we got there, comedian Nathan appeared. He had the kids in the dressing room in stiches. 3 times dressed and 3 times to the bathroom. I had to take his skates off once as they were on too long. And then standing and waiting to go on the ice, I over heard another parent say her younger son was sick with the Chicken pox. The older son plays with Nathan and the younger boy there at hockey and was in the dressing room when Nathan and the other kids were getting dressed. So how close of contact does one need to be to be at risk of getting the virus? The concern with a compromised immune system is inability to fight it. So the clinic has said if in contact with someone with the virus Nathan would need a special shot in order to help his immune system. I don't know the stage other than was still blistering and was really itchy. And what is the definition of in contact. The boys were at least 10 feet apart. But then tonight I had a thought - the mom brought the jerseys so can the virus transfer to clothing? So Monday I will need to call the clinic to find out if we need to do anything. Frustrating to say the least.
Tomorrow will be a quiet day - cleaning and hopefully get some decorating done. The outside is done and hope to start working on the inside. We are looking forward to enjoying the season's traditions this year and hoping for a little normalcy.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Maintenance Day 1
The Maintenance phase is finally here. Where did the year go. The memories of Nathan's diagnosis is fresh and seems like yesterday when we started down this road.
4 days off from all medications proved a wonder to Nathan's body as his neutrophils bounced up to 1.22 - high enough to start the Maintenance phase of treatment. Maintenance is supposed to be the easiest of all the phases but it is the longest. Starting today it will take Nathan to March 9, 2012 or more exact, today is day 1 of 845 days of preventative treatment.
The cycle is 85 days and we just keep repeating the 85 days until the end of treatment. So 5 days at the start of every 28 days, Nathan will have Dexamethasone (steroid) for 5 days. Every day before bed he will have Mecaptopurine or 6MP. This one will take some time to get used to administering as it needs to be one hour before eating or 2-3 hours after eating. A new label says no milk products in the 2-3 hour window. We will need clarification on that one as no milk before bed for 2 plus years isn't going to happen. Once a week starting next Monday, Nathan will have Methotrexate by pill before bed. This drug made us chuckle as one dose is 7 tiny pills. When we asked the pharmacist why it didn't come in a bigger pill, Nathan's response was "no problem, I can take 7 pills at once". The pharmacist's response was this drug is the one that knocks the white blood cells so quite often the dosage is changed and rather than throwing out pills, you can simply remove a couple if need be.
Although this is new and we were expecting to go for blood work in a week or two just to see where Nathans white blood cell count is at, we are not to go in until December so every 4 weeks unless at that time his counts are low. So that is the news on Nathan.
Carter is not feeling well. I am not sure if he is in the less than 10% category that has side effects from flu vaccinations or if it is just a coincidence. Thursday evening was his vaccination. Friday he was feeling well but looked very pale. Saturday he had extreme fatigue and by Sunday afternoon he put himself for a nap as he wasn't feeling well. 2 hours later with me waking him up, he woke with a fever, chills and body aches. He slep a full night Sunday and woke this morning with a slight fever. While we were at the clinic, he wasn't able to keep water down in the morning but settled his stomach by noon. The remainder of the day was resting. The temperature returned in late afternoon and after supper he again put himself to bed. When I say after supper I mean 6:30pm. One thing I admire about Carter is that when he isn't feeling well, he knows to sleep. So sleeping he is.
With everything going on, I managed to slip away this afternoon to the Prairie Land H1N1 vaccination clinic. I was told by the Counsellor at the Cancer Clinic that our request was heard and that although it wasn't advertised, care givers of children receiving chemotherapy who could not themselves receive the vaccine were now eligible to receive it. So I thought I would try again. I was asked if I had an underlying health problem and I said no and explained the situation and low and behold they said "oh, yes, you are a primary caregiver and you qualify". 3 times a charm! My arm hurt for a while but I made sure to move it around. I am expecting stiffness tomorrow and hopefully that will be all the side effect is. Nathan still does not get the vaccine as his lymphocytes need to be 1.5. With having treatment today and starting the new medications, his doctor would like to see where his counts will be before advising him receiving the vaccine. So Nathan has a minimum 4 week wait. At least all 4 of us now have had the vaccination and can hopefully minimize what we bring in for Nathan.
Well its been a busy day and who knows what tomorrow should bring so I should finish up. We will keep you posted.
4 days off from all medications proved a wonder to Nathan's body as his neutrophils bounced up to 1.22 - high enough to start the Maintenance phase of treatment. Maintenance is supposed to be the easiest of all the phases but it is the longest. Starting today it will take Nathan to March 9, 2012 or more exact, today is day 1 of 845 days of preventative treatment.
The cycle is 85 days and we just keep repeating the 85 days until the end of treatment. So 5 days at the start of every 28 days, Nathan will have Dexamethasone (steroid) for 5 days. Every day before bed he will have Mecaptopurine or 6MP. This one will take some time to get used to administering as it needs to be one hour before eating or 2-3 hours after eating. A new label says no milk products in the 2-3 hour window. We will need clarification on that one as no milk before bed for 2 plus years isn't going to happen. Once a week starting next Monday, Nathan will have Methotrexate by pill before bed. This drug made us chuckle as one dose is 7 tiny pills. When we asked the pharmacist why it didn't come in a bigger pill, Nathan's response was "no problem, I can take 7 pills at once". The pharmacist's response was this drug is the one that knocks the white blood cells so quite often the dosage is changed and rather than throwing out pills, you can simply remove a couple if need be.
Although this is new and we were expecting to go for blood work in a week or two just to see where Nathans white blood cell count is at, we are not to go in until December so every 4 weeks unless at that time his counts are low. So that is the news on Nathan.
Carter is not feeling well. I am not sure if he is in the less than 10% category that has side effects from flu vaccinations or if it is just a coincidence. Thursday evening was his vaccination. Friday he was feeling well but looked very pale. Saturday he had extreme fatigue and by Sunday afternoon he put himself for a nap as he wasn't feeling well. 2 hours later with me waking him up, he woke with a fever, chills and body aches. He slep a full night Sunday and woke this morning with a slight fever. While we were at the clinic, he wasn't able to keep water down in the morning but settled his stomach by noon. The remainder of the day was resting. The temperature returned in late afternoon and after supper he again put himself to bed. When I say after supper I mean 6:30pm. One thing I admire about Carter is that when he isn't feeling well, he knows to sleep. So sleeping he is.
With everything going on, I managed to slip away this afternoon to the Prairie Land H1N1 vaccination clinic. I was told by the Counsellor at the Cancer Clinic that our request was heard and that although it wasn't advertised, care givers of children receiving chemotherapy who could not themselves receive the vaccine were now eligible to receive it. So I thought I would try again. I was asked if I had an underlying health problem and I said no and explained the situation and low and behold they said "oh, yes, you are a primary caregiver and you qualify". 3 times a charm! My arm hurt for a while but I made sure to move it around. I am expecting stiffness tomorrow and hopefully that will be all the side effect is. Nathan still does not get the vaccine as his lymphocytes need to be 1.5. With having treatment today and starting the new medications, his doctor would like to see where his counts will be before advising him receiving the vaccine. So Nathan has a minimum 4 week wait. At least all 4 of us now have had the vaccination and can hopefully minimize what we bring in for Nathan.
Well its been a busy day and who knows what tomorrow should bring so I should finish up. We will keep you posted.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
ADI II Done Day 6
Finally some good news! Nathan's neutrophils have come to 0.66 so no more IV antibiotic! That was a nice jump from Monday. Nathan was excited to have Arron de-access him and he once again thoroughly enjoyed his bath.
So now that one child is on the mend, time to focus on another :). Several times we have questioned our doctor regarding Carter and swelling in the groin area, noticeably so after exercising or having a bath. Each visit he couldn't find anything. We requested awhile back for him to be sent to a specialist and so was able to get in to see a urologist at the end of October. It appears Carter has a small hernia that is allowing fluid in through the opening when he exercises. It has never bothered him as he has never complained of pain. I took him this morning for an ultrasound and he did very well. We were told it would be 4-6 months for surgery but there must have been an opening as we received a phone call indicating November 20th they could get him in. We are ever so thankful we live in Canada and have paid medicare!
Carter's school was eligibile for Kindergarten to grade 6 to get the H1N1 vaccincation tonight. We all took him but when told it was a 2 hour wait, we made alternate arrangements for Arron and Carter to get a ride home and I returned with Justin and Nathan. Nathan still needs to wait. His neutrophils and lymphocytes both need to be 1.0 for at least 2 days in a row before he can get the vaccination and have it work. So maybe next week he and I will be able to get it together.
And just so as not to leave Justin out, he is going to be a sweet talker like his Dad. Reading books tonight he looked at me and says, "I love your beautiful blue eyes". He generally does the "just lay with me for 2 mins" speech at bed time. So as we cuddled he started rubbing my back and then told me to rub his. Just before he went to sleep he kissed me on the nose and said I was the best mom ever. Moments like these melt my heart - just a little bit of sweetness at the end of a stressful day.
So now that one child is on the mend, time to focus on another :). Several times we have questioned our doctor regarding Carter and swelling in the groin area, noticeably so after exercising or having a bath. Each visit he couldn't find anything. We requested awhile back for him to be sent to a specialist and so was able to get in to see a urologist at the end of October. It appears Carter has a small hernia that is allowing fluid in through the opening when he exercises. It has never bothered him as he has never complained of pain. I took him this morning for an ultrasound and he did very well. We were told it would be 4-6 months for surgery but there must have been an opening as we received a phone call indicating November 20th they could get him in. We are ever so thankful we live in Canada and have paid medicare!
Carter's school was eligibile for Kindergarten to grade 6 to get the H1N1 vaccincation tonight. We all took him but when told it was a 2 hour wait, we made alternate arrangements for Arron and Carter to get a ride home and I returned with Justin and Nathan. Nathan still needs to wait. His neutrophils and lymphocytes both need to be 1.0 for at least 2 days in a row before he can get the vaccination and have it work. So maybe next week he and I will be able to get it together.
And just so as not to leave Justin out, he is going to be a sweet talker like his Dad. Reading books tonight he looked at me and says, "I love your beautiful blue eyes". He generally does the "just lay with me for 2 mins" speech at bed time. So as we cuddled he started rubbing my back and then told me to rub his. Just before he went to sleep he kissed me on the nose and said I was the best mom ever. Moments like these melt my heart - just a little bit of sweetness at the end of a stressful day.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
ADI II - Done day 4
Nathan's neutrophils are finally on the rebound....
Yesterday we were able to de-access him after his 6:30am medication, he was able to have a good morning including a nice long bath and then we went to the clinic for blood work. We didn't have to wait around so was nice to come straight home.
A phone call around 3pm informed us his WBC was 1.03, hemoglobin 88, platelettes around 200 and neutrophils were 0.33. It was a big relief to hear that Nathan had turned a corner. He is getting a little stir crazy being in the house all the time so we are looking forward as much as he is to having enough neutrophils to be comfortable letting him out.
Thursday we will go for another blood test to see if Nathan's neutrophils are at 0.50. As soon as we hit the mark Nathan will be off the IV anti-biotic. I am hoping that will happen Thursday in order to give his body a break - no medication, no hospitals and not being accessed - at least for 4 days.
Yesterday we were able to de-access him after his 6:30am medication, he was able to have a good morning including a nice long bath and then we went to the clinic for blood work. We didn't have to wait around so was nice to come straight home.
A phone call around 3pm informed us his WBC was 1.03, hemoglobin 88, platelettes around 200 and neutrophils were 0.33. It was a big relief to hear that Nathan had turned a corner. He is getting a little stir crazy being in the house all the time so we are looking forward as much as he is to having enough neutrophils to be comfortable letting him out.
Thursday we will go for another blood test to see if Nathan's neutrophils are at 0.50. As soon as we hit the mark Nathan will be off the IV anti-biotic. I am hoping that will happen Thursday in order to give his body a break - no medication, no hospitals and not being accessed - at least for 4 days.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
ADI II - Done
On Friday Nathan had his last treatments for the Augmented Delayed Intensification phase and he did wonderfully. He fell asleep on the way to the clinic so I had to carry him and Shelley's monstrously heavy green go-to-the-clinic bag. Got him into the playroom and laid him down on a reclining chair and went - what the heck?! The playroom is now simply a glass cage for the kids. There is nothing left in there, no games, no puzzles and no toys. Due to the H1N1 scare, they have taken anything out that could transmit the flu from one child to the next. Sure makes for a boring playroom, I'm glad we are not at the 4 times a week spot in his treatment. Nurse Andrea managed to draw his blood and hook up his IV all while he was sleeping since he is still accessed. Shelley showed up shortly after and we let Nathan sleep for awhile. He woke up after an hour or so and we were ready to go get his leg needles. And once again Nathan did awesome; the first needle went very well but then he got apprehensive before the second one. We did finally get through that one and now, as long as we stay on track, NO MORE LEG NEEDLES - WOOHOO!!!
Shelley has been doing a wonderful job giving Nathan his antibiotics. I'm not sure she could handle a career change to nursing but she certainly would have a head start on more than a few required skills. Nathan has being doing well at home but he keeps reminding us that he would like to go visit friends. We keep telling him that he has to wait until his counts are higher and he is feeling better. I do not know if it is the new antibiotic or just what it might be but he has complained about feeling nauseous these past couple of days. Speaking of counts, on Friday his WBC counts went down again but his Neutrophils stayed the same. WBC was 0.67 (just as reminder, normal is 5.0-15.0), RBC was 3.08, Hemoglobin was low at 82 but platelets were fine at 158. Something is keeping those darn white blood cells down and we really need it to stop so that the cell counts cane come back up.
Rick asked us on Friday if we had gotten our H1N1 shots yet and we explained that we were not on any of the high risk lists yet, and though Nathan could have starting on Saturday, his lymphocytes are not high enough to get the vaccine. He agreed that this wasn't right and was going to look into it for us as well. I do not expect anything to come of it but it never hurts to have another advocate on our side. There are plenty of other families in our situation and I think it is a scenario that has fallen through the cracks.
Carter had a hockey game this morning, getting to play goal, so Arron took Justin with him to the game. Nathan challenged mom to yet another game of Wii and then had a visist from his friend Matt. Nathan sure is missing the social activity and so are his parents! Short term pain for long term gain is the reminder but sometimes hard to remember.
Tomorrow will be another day to try and get life back into the swing of things. This lack of routine is difficult.
Shelley has been doing a wonderful job giving Nathan his antibiotics. I'm not sure she could handle a career change to nursing but she certainly would have a head start on more than a few required skills. Nathan has being doing well at home but he keeps reminding us that he would like to go visit friends. We keep telling him that he has to wait until his counts are higher and he is feeling better. I do not know if it is the new antibiotic or just what it might be but he has complained about feeling nauseous these past couple of days. Speaking of counts, on Friday his WBC counts went down again but his Neutrophils stayed the same. WBC was 0.67 (just as reminder, normal is 5.0-15.0), RBC was 3.08, Hemoglobin was low at 82 but platelets were fine at 158. Something is keeping those darn white blood cells down and we really need it to stop so that the cell counts cane come back up.
Rick asked us on Friday if we had gotten our H1N1 shots yet and we explained that we were not on any of the high risk lists yet, and though Nathan could have starting on Saturday, his lymphocytes are not high enough to get the vaccine. He agreed that this wasn't right and was going to look into it for us as well. I do not expect anything to come of it but it never hurts to have another advocate on our side. There are plenty of other families in our situation and I think it is a scenario that has fallen through the cracks.
Carter had a hockey game this morning, getting to play goal, so Arron took Justin with him to the game. Nathan challenged mom to yet another game of Wii and then had a visist from his friend Matt. Nathan sure is missing the social activity and so are his parents! Short term pain for long term gain is the reminder but sometimes hard to remember.
Tomorrow will be another day to try and get life back into the swing of things. This lack of routine is difficult.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
ADI II Day 52
We're home!
And it was time to go to. Nathan was starting to get a little cabin fevered the past couple of days and was acting up a little more - nothing like last time but you could tell he was ready to get out. Today, as we were waiting for discharge papers, Nathan was literally bouncing off the walls, bed, chairs and everything else in his room. We finally left the hospital by 4pm and his brothers were very happy to see him come home. They all were real attentive with each, I wish it could be like that more often (but without the hospital visit of course). The only trouble we had this evening was that after two weeks of hospital food Nathan ate very well at supper, and after two weeks of inactivity he get right back into the action of running around with his brothers, and that let to a little boy vomiting in the hallway and scaring his brothers off! It was high volume and very stinky but it gave us an excuse to finally get him in the bathtub after a week of not bathing. Bathtime is quite a bit more challening while he is accessed. Normally we would put a large opsite bandage over Nathan's accessing needle but his skin tends to burn from the adhesive so we let it stay uncovered. That presents all sorts of challenges as well. And then, of course, none of the boys wanted to go to sleep and they all wanted a parent to sleep with them. They are finally down.
Shelley and I decided on the Cefepime course of action. Every 8 hours Nathan gets a dose by syringe so that means that Nathan is still accessed but he does not ever have to be hooked up to Frank (IV pole). And we have scheduled his dosages for 10:30pm and 6:30 am so those two should be done while he is still sleeping so he only needs to do one while awake. Nathan is excited to have Shelley and I as his nurses again. As I stated yesterday, Cefepime is from the penicillin family and is another big gun (broad spectrum) antibiotic. Nathan is scheduled to take this for two weeks or until his Neutrophils reach .5. If after two weeks we still aren't at .5 then we have to re-evaluate and see where we go next.
The blood counts today were a little confusing as well. His WBC had gone down and so we assumed his Neutrophils had correspondingly dropped as they always do BUT this time the Neutraphils went up from .05 to .08 and so that is still a long way from the .5 but maybe headed in the rigth direction. Nathan also had his second last set of leg needles today and he has been doing awesome. The nice thing is that we have had a different nurse each time (today was Adam) and Nathan hasn't balked at that like he usually does. Two nurses always come in to do the leg needles and we inform them that we do them one at a time, and then Nathan picks which nurse to do the first one. Every time he has picked that same nurse to do the second one as well so that has to be good for their confidence. He had no issues whatsoever doing the leg needles - it was wonderful.
We just wanted to make sure to let everyone know that though we had some frustrating moments at the hospital, our stay this go round was really good. All of the nurses were friendly and worked well with Nathan; the program coordinator Shaylene was wonderful with Nathan; the Cancer Center people were very accomodating when we needed them and a few of them even came to visit while Nathan was on the ward; the support staff (janitors, orderlys, etc) became involved with Nathan; and the doctors worked with us a little more than in the past in order to find a treatment that we were comforatable with. Kudos to our health system on this stay.... though the hosptital food could still use some work! Now here is hoping we don't have to experience our health care system for a couple of years....
And it was time to go to. Nathan was starting to get a little cabin fevered the past couple of days and was acting up a little more - nothing like last time but you could tell he was ready to get out. Today, as we were waiting for discharge papers, Nathan was literally bouncing off the walls, bed, chairs and everything else in his room. We finally left the hospital by 4pm and his brothers were very happy to see him come home. They all were real attentive with each, I wish it could be like that more often (but without the hospital visit of course). The only trouble we had this evening was that after two weeks of hospital food Nathan ate very well at supper, and after two weeks of inactivity he get right back into the action of running around with his brothers, and that let to a little boy vomiting in the hallway and scaring his brothers off! It was high volume and very stinky but it gave us an excuse to finally get him in the bathtub after a week of not bathing. Bathtime is quite a bit more challening while he is accessed. Normally we would put a large opsite bandage over Nathan's accessing needle but his skin tends to burn from the adhesive so we let it stay uncovered. That presents all sorts of challenges as well. And then, of course, none of the boys wanted to go to sleep and they all wanted a parent to sleep with them. They are finally down.
Shelley and I decided on the Cefepime course of action. Every 8 hours Nathan gets a dose by syringe so that means that Nathan is still accessed but he does not ever have to be hooked up to Frank (IV pole). And we have scheduled his dosages for 10:30pm and 6:30 am so those two should be done while he is still sleeping so he only needs to do one while awake. Nathan is excited to have Shelley and I as his nurses again. As I stated yesterday, Cefepime is from the penicillin family and is another big gun (broad spectrum) antibiotic. Nathan is scheduled to take this for two weeks or until his Neutrophils reach .5. If after two weeks we still aren't at .5 then we have to re-evaluate and see where we go next.
The blood counts today were a little confusing as well. His WBC had gone down and so we assumed his Neutrophils had correspondingly dropped as they always do BUT this time the Neutraphils went up from .05 to .08 and so that is still a long way from the .5 but maybe headed in the rigth direction. Nathan also had his second last set of leg needles today and he has been doing awesome. The nice thing is that we have had a different nurse each time (today was Adam) and Nathan hasn't balked at that like he usually does. Two nurses always come in to do the leg needles and we inform them that we do them one at a time, and then Nathan picks which nurse to do the first one. Every time he has picked that same nurse to do the second one as well so that has to be good for their confidence. He had no issues whatsoever doing the leg needles - it was wonderful.
We just wanted to make sure to let everyone know that though we had some frustrating moments at the hospital, our stay this go round was really good. All of the nurses were friendly and worked well with Nathan; the program coordinator Shaylene was wonderful with Nathan; the Cancer Center people were very accomodating when we needed them and a few of them even came to visit while Nathan was on the ward; the support staff (janitors, orderlys, etc) became involved with Nathan; and the doctors worked with us a little more than in the past in order to find a treatment that we were comforatable with. Kudos to our health system on this stay.... though the hosptital food could still use some work! Now here is hoping we don't have to experience our health care system for a couple of years....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)