Almost finished!
Posted 14 hours ago
Julian goes in for his last round of chemo tomorrow! So happy that he is at the finish line and can't wait for him to feel better and get back to living life again. He has been such an amazing trooper through everything. It will take about six weeks to recover from this round and then his hair should start coming back again and he'll hopefully be feeling much better. We'll have to work on his eating so he can have the NG tube removed and he'll have lots of MRIs and follow-ups, but at least we're just about done with chemo!!!
This morning he had an audiogram done at Providence and, incredibly, there was no change since the last hearing test done in November and even a very slight improvement. The doctor said it could be that he was more focused on listening for the sounds this time, or maybe even due to the special medicine he was given before his last round of cisplatin. Probably we'll never know, but it is very encouraging. He'll be getting that medicine again to help protect against the effects of cisplatin tomorrow. We're so thankful that there are these options and that his hearing is stable right now. In a few weeks, he'll have another hearing test and then receive his hearing aids. He wasn't too thrilled about the idea of wearing hearing aids, but once he's in a classroom full of kids and sounds, he'll be glad he has them.
Well, gotta go and pack our bags!
P.S. Months ago, I asked for prayer for a boy named Noah. He passed away last October. His mother is amazing and just wrote a beautiful update. The name of the Carepage is NoahDowell.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Familiar Stomping Grounds - Message from Andrea 1/3/10
Posted 14 hours ago
Julian is sleeping soundly in room 321 at CHOC tonight and we expect to go home tomorrow. Kept the healthcare system fairly busy last week: two clinic visits, chemo push, NG tube replacement, home health visit, three days of special meds to boost his white blood cell production, a blood transfusion, ER visit and two nights at CHOC. In between he did have fun playing with his Christmas toys and going to the beach for a short while on New Year's Eve. But we were pretty worried yesterday afternoon when he said his shunt hurt and it looked fairly swollen and even appeared as if it had shifted downward. Bracing for news that he might need surgery to replace it. In the ER, they did an x-ray and a CT scan and, thankfully, the shunt is working just fine. (Earlier in the week, Julian had taken a tumble on the front lawn and said he had bumped his head, so these scans eased our concerns that his fall had caused any problems.) But because of the swelling and tenderness there could have been an infection, so the doctors wanted to watch him for a night or two and give him antibiotics. He also needed a blood transfusion because his red blood cell count was low again. So, we took care of business and spent the first couple of days of the new year at CHOC, but so glad he was in caring and capable hands and that he is feeling much better now. Want to wish you all a wonderful New Year and thank you for riding this roller coaster with us. Your prayers continue to help Julian through each dip and sudden turn on that ride. The events of this past week certainly confirm that! And thanks to Him for protecting Julian from injury and so much more (i.e. amazingly, he didn't catch my flu bug a few weeks ago!)
Julian is sleeping soundly in room 321 at CHOC tonight and we expect to go home tomorrow. Kept the healthcare system fairly busy last week: two clinic visits, chemo push, NG tube replacement, home health visit, three days of special meds to boost his white blood cell production, a blood transfusion, ER visit and two nights at CHOC. In between he did have fun playing with his Christmas toys and going to the beach for a short while on New Year's Eve. But we were pretty worried yesterday afternoon when he said his shunt hurt and it looked fairly swollen and even appeared as if it had shifted downward. Bracing for news that he might need surgery to replace it. In the ER, they did an x-ray and a CT scan and, thankfully, the shunt is working just fine. (Earlier in the week, Julian had taken a tumble on the front lawn and said he had bumped his head, so these scans eased our concerns that his fall had caused any problems.) But because of the swelling and tenderness there could have been an infection, so the doctors wanted to watch him for a night or two and give him antibiotics. He also needed a blood transfusion because his red blood cell count was low again. So, we took care of business and spent the first couple of days of the new year at CHOC, but so glad he was in caring and capable hands and that he is feeling much better now. Want to wish you all a wonderful New Year and thank you for riding this roller coaster with us. Your prayers continue to help Julian through each dip and sudden turn on that ride. The events of this past week certainly confirm that! And thanks to Him for protecting Julian from injury and so much more (i.e. amazingly, he didn't catch my flu bug a few weeks ago!)
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