There's a Fungus Among Us

I do feel the need to apologize for the title, but it was too good to pass up.

Cole does officially have a fungal infection. Further, a CT scan today showed that it was in his brain. Dr. Lowe (one of the oncologists) says that it is only "small spots" in his brain, though, so there is some sort of silver lining. Most likely the spots in his lungs, heart and brain are all fungal.

The infectious disease doctor, Dr. Fisher, thinks it is aspergillus. That's not a good thing, from what I can gather, but it is treatable.

The course of treatment will probably last for a very long time, as in months if not years. It's very hard to treat fungal infections and they have a tendency to come back. Cole will be getting two anti-fungal medications for the time being, but will eventually get moved down to one. We'll likely be in the hospital for a while, as well, as fungal infections are slow to respond (but they are also slow to grow).

Despite all the bad news, it is nice to finally have a diagnosis (of sorts). It was pretty painful when no one knew what it was and folks kept waffling back and forth on what it could be, but no one would give us a definite answer. Now, we have a definite answer and we also have a definite way to move forward. We will continue to move on, and will continue to fight as best we are able. This really changes nothing.

Cole will continue to get his chemo on time. He will also get periodic CT scans to make sure that the infection is being treated. Our number one priority right now is to fight leukemia as it is, by far, the more dangerous of the two diseases.

Now, for some positive news.

Cole was taken off of contact precautions today so we were able to go to the play room! He played for an hour and a half, standing for at least 30 minutes and even trying to walk on his own. At first he was rather shaky on his feet, but as he stood he got steadier. It was good to see him playing and having a good time.

Also, when we got back from the PACU after the CT scan I was eating a piece of cheese. Cole saw it and decided he wanted it, so I gave it to him. He spent the next 5 minutes talking to and about the cheese, but not eating it. I finally asked him, "are you going to talk about it or eat it?" Cole looked at me, and with a very serious expression said, "I gonna talk about it".

All things considered, our spirits are good, and we're settling in to whatever this new diagnosis will bring. I'm not feeling stressed about being in the hospital, and we're back to sharing the load, so I guess that's good.

Fever City

Cole's still running fevers, some of them high. Our infectious disease doctor, Dr. Fisher (he's filling in for Dr. Buescher) took some time to personally look at Cole's slides from his biopsy and got a surprise. He found fungus that had been overlooked previously.

They're going to start Cole back on the anti-fungal medicine, which is something that Dalynn and I had wondered about. When they took him off of the anti-fungal medicine he started running fevers again.

Though this is bad news, it does appear to be an answer to prayer, as well. Most of us have been praying for the doctors to have wisdom, and this sounds like a cut-and-dried case of a doctor having wisdom.

So, continue praying and now pray that the anti-fungals wipe out the fungus wholesale.

After Surgery Update

Cole is still doing well, and some of the cultures have already grown some Streptococcal chains. Dr. Buescher, our infectious disease doctor, says that this is very treatable and he seems happy with things so far. He also thinks it's unlikely it's a contaminant, so we might be dealing with the real McCoy.

So, right now, all the news is good and Cole is being treated in just the right way for what they've cultured so far.

Surgery Done

Cole had his surgery today and everything went well. It took them a little longer than they expected, which was hard for Dalynn and I to endure, but in the end everything came out OK.

We had a shock this morning when they said that Cole had the condition meningitis. I say condition because meningitis is actually a condition with many causes. It means he has an inflammation of the meningeal lining (I think that's what it's called), and the likely cause is that the infection in his lungs and heart has also infected the meningeal lining (that's the lining around your brain). It showed up as white blood cells, which were not leukemic, in his spinal fluid.

The incredibly preliminary results are that it is a bacterial infection (as opposed to a fungal infection), which is good. It means it can be treated with antibiotics. We'll know more tomorrow once the cultures have had a chance to grow.

I'm sure we're going to be here a while, this time, probably through Christmas, but that's OK with me, now. I just want Cole to get on the other side of this and get well, so that he can continue his treatment and beat cancer.

As I sit and write this, Cole is sleeping soundly in his nifty bed, his pulse a low 135 and his O2 stats in the high 90s. To most of you, this won't mean much, but to us, it means all is well, at least right now.

Back to the Hospital

Well, we're back in the hospital again. We enjoyed our one night out, kind of, but we found the hospital too irresistable, it would seem.

All joking aside, they've finally found the reason for Cole's fevers over the past week. Cole spiked a fever of 103 this morning before we came to clinic and this prompted Dr. Owen to order a CT scan of Cole's chest. The scan found roughly 10 "masses" in his lungs, what are most likely either a bacterial or a fungal infection. Further testing, via an echocardiogram (ultra-sound of the heart) showed that Cole also has several more masses in his heart.

The source of this infection seems most likely to be his picc line, which is not uncommon. They pulled his picc today, but thankfully were able to get a new IV stick with just one try in the clinic, so he has IV access. Pray that his IV functions properly until it is not needed anymore.

Cole will be going into surgery sometime tomorrow morning for a biopsy of the masses in his lungs. From this, they hope to get an idea of what the infection is so that they can successfully treat it quickly.

As a result of all of this, one of Cole's chemo drugs, vincristine, was held today. I don't know when it will be given to him, but it is a pretty major thing to completely hold a drug like that.

Pray for Cole to come succesfully and safely through surgery tomorrow, and for the biopsy to reveal what the infection is. Then, pray for a quick treatment with no lasting effects for Cole.

The only note of encouragement I can give you right now is that the doctors are optimistic about the outcome of Cole's treatment. Pray for wisdom and guidance for them as they continue to treat Cole.