This simply speaks for itself:
Monday, April 21, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Surprise Surprise
Well, they discharged Cole yesterday around 6 pm. He was happy to go home and see his little brother and Granddaddy.
He starts his second round of Cytarabine today, so we're praying he doesn't run any fevers, as that would put us straight back into the hospital. Please pray with us.
He starts his second round of Cytarabine today, so we're praying he doesn't run any fevers, as that would put us straight back into the hospital. Please pray with us.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
New Cancer Treatment?
This isn't something that Cole would need, as hopefully he'll be cured by the time this rolls out, but here's a nifty 60 Minutes report on a potential new cancer treatment that would have very little side effects.
Line Out
Well, Cole's line is out. It came out last night and they started an IV at the same point. Before they took the line out, though, they topped him off with some red blood, so hopefully he'll be feeling even better.
Dalynn and I are now planning on being in the hospital for at least another week, perhaps longer. One of the doctors has made noises about us going home soon, but we're not putting much stock in that. Our thinking is that we may just opt to stay in for another week.
The reason is that his ANC is going to be down below 500 and he starts cytaribine again on Thursday. With cytaribine, he seems to run a low grade fever. Since his ANC is below 500, if he does run a fever then that's an automatic trip to the hospital for an extended stay til such a time as either his counts come back up or his fever goes away for at least 24 hours. Consequently, we'd probably end up leaving the hospital for a day only to find ourselves right back in.
We've done that before (left the hospital for a day, only to turn right around and come back) and it's really just not worth it. It takes forever to get admitted, first off, and now we're "set up" at the hospital. We have a bunch of clothes there, food for Cole, we have toys from the play room and we have a room that we like. Why pack all that up, haul it home for a night, then go back?
So, we're looking at this as being in for the "long haul". Hopefully it won't be for more than a week, but if it is, we're prepared.
Dalynn and I are now planning on being in the hospital for at least another week, perhaps longer. One of the doctors has made noises about us going home soon, but we're not putting much stock in that. Our thinking is that we may just opt to stay in for another week.
The reason is that his ANC is going to be down below 500 and he starts cytaribine again on Thursday. With cytaribine, he seems to run a low grade fever. Since his ANC is below 500, if he does run a fever then that's an automatic trip to the hospital for an extended stay til such a time as either his counts come back up or his fever goes away for at least 24 hours. Consequently, we'd probably end up leaving the hospital for a day only to find ourselves right back in.
We've done that before (left the hospital for a day, only to turn right around and come back) and it's really just not worth it. It takes forever to get admitted, first off, and now we're "set up" at the hospital. We have a bunch of clothes there, food for Cole, we have toys from the play room and we have a room that we like. Why pack all that up, haul it home for a night, then go back?
So, we're looking at this as being in for the "long haul". Hopefully it won't be for more than a week, but if it is, we're prepared.
Monday, April 14, 2008
It's the Line, Jim!
If you can pinpoint that title reference, then you're a true geek.
The second culture came back positive, so it's definitely a line infection. Further, since Cole's ANC dropped below 500 today, he's starting on IV anti-fungals.
Now, if you analyze that series of statements closely, you'll see that there's a problem. The quick treatment for a line infection is to remove the line. But, if we remove the line, how is he going to get the IV anti-fungals?
Well, the short answer is that they're going to put in an IV, but that means we can't go home since he must be at the hospital while he has an IV in. The possibility is that we'll be in the hospital for a bit.
Of course, they could always wait a few days and put in another line, such as a PICC line, for the duration of the IV anti-fungals, then pull that one as soon as he's done with the anti-fungals. But, really, another line... I guess I'm OK with that, but I'll be happy the day that we can put all lines behind us. They're such a pain, though they do allow for some convenience and less pain.
Even after all of Cole's lines are pulled, though, he'll still need to have IV access at least once a month for his Vincristine, but we're planning on just letting them put in an IV while he's at clinic. At this point, with all the troubles we've had with lines we feel that the down-side of the pain is balanced by the lack of an infection vector. I hate to do it to him but I know he can handle it. Still, that whole logic seems cold to me...
So, they're pulling his CVL tonight. I do have to take this moment, though, to stop and thank God for the fact that we rode that CVL for 2 months. It was a temporary, and it should have lasted 3 weeks tops. To get it to function for 2 months with as little trouble as we did have (it only had to be TPA'ed twice, for instance) is nigh on miraculous.
The second culture came back positive, so it's definitely a line infection. Further, since Cole's ANC dropped below 500 today, he's starting on IV anti-fungals.
Now, if you analyze that series of statements closely, you'll see that there's a problem. The quick treatment for a line infection is to remove the line. But, if we remove the line, how is he going to get the IV anti-fungals?
Well, the short answer is that they're going to put in an IV, but that means we can't go home since he must be at the hospital while he has an IV in. The possibility is that we'll be in the hospital for a bit.
Of course, they could always wait a few days and put in another line, such as a PICC line, for the duration of the IV anti-fungals, then pull that one as soon as he's done with the anti-fungals. But, really, another line... I guess I'm OK with that, but I'll be happy the day that we can put all lines behind us. They're such a pain, though they do allow for some convenience and less pain.
Even after all of Cole's lines are pulled, though, he'll still need to have IV access at least once a month for his Vincristine, but we're planning on just letting them put in an IV while he's at clinic. At this point, with all the troubles we've had with lines we feel that the down-side of the pain is balanced by the lack of an infection vector. I hate to do it to him but I know he can handle it. Still, that whole logic seems cold to me...
So, they're pulling his CVL tonight. I do have to take this moment, though, to stop and thank God for the fact that we rode that CVL for 2 months. It was a temporary, and it should have lasted 3 weeks tops. To get it to function for 2 months with as little trouble as we did have (it only had to be TPA'ed twice, for instance) is nigh on miraculous.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
In the Hospital Yet Again
We spent yesterday in the ER when Cole spiked a slight fever (100.5) and held it for an hour. By our "rules" that meant we had to take Cole in, and since it was the weekend, we went to the CHKD ER around 8 am.
They ran all of the normal cultures, treated him with an antibiotic and released us to go home. The expectation was that we'd be coming back the next day (Sunday, which is today) if he ran another fever at all (which he did). However, much to our surprise, we got a call at 3 am this morning from the hospital. They had cultured a gram-positive cocci bacteria from the cultures they took on Saturday and they wanted us to come in immediately.
So, at 3 am we hauled ourselves out of bed, got Cole and his diaper bag and took off for the ER yet again. Long story short is that we're now admitted to 8B, room 801, again and we're likely to be here through at least Tuesday, perhaps longer.
The best scenario is that the culture is a contaminant. If it is, then it won't culture again. If it doesn't culture again, and he doesn't run any more fevers then we're sprung and we can go home. Of course, we've been down the "hoping for a conatminant" road before and I don't particularly feel like putting my hope in that.
Second best scenario is that it isn't a contaminant but it responds to the antibiotics that he's getting already, in which case we could still get out of here sooner rather than later.
The "no fever" part may pose a problem, however, as we're pretty certain Cole is running low grade fevers due to a chemo, cytaribine, that he's currently getting. Tomorrow is his last dose of it, though, so hopefully we can keep the fevers to a minimum.
It's hard not to want to just get out of here. I truly find the hospital to be a dragging, dull place. The atmosphere is lightened by Cole himself and the staff here, but it's still hard not to resent just being here. My mood, though, has gotten better since I got a little bit of sleep. A little...
I think it's easier on Dalynn, but I can't figure out why. I think it may have something to do with feeling comfortable with being in someone else's care, whereas I don't take as much comfort from that. It's really hard to say. Maybe it's just a guy thing, lol!
The main thing that I keep telling myself, though, is that it's important for Cole to get better. So, I'm constantly revising my impatience with that. Not an easy thing to continually do, but it's possible.
All in all, though, I do feel a peace, whether or not it's the peace of the Holy Spirit, I honestly can't say, but I feel a peace. I'm not overly concerned with the bacteria, and part of that is that Dr. Werner, the most conservative of the oncology docs, isn't overly concerned with it. Part of me figures that if he doesn't see a reason to worry and be cautious, then there may be no reason to.
They ran all of the normal cultures, treated him with an antibiotic and released us to go home. The expectation was that we'd be coming back the next day (Sunday, which is today) if he ran another fever at all (which he did). However, much to our surprise, we got a call at 3 am this morning from the hospital. They had cultured a gram-positive cocci bacteria from the cultures they took on Saturday and they wanted us to come in immediately.
So, at 3 am we hauled ourselves out of bed, got Cole and his diaper bag and took off for the ER yet again. Long story short is that we're now admitted to 8B, room 801, again and we're likely to be here through at least Tuesday, perhaps longer.
The best scenario is that the culture is a contaminant. If it is, then it won't culture again. If it doesn't culture again, and he doesn't run any more fevers then we're sprung and we can go home. Of course, we've been down the "hoping for a conatminant" road before and I don't particularly feel like putting my hope in that.
Second best scenario is that it isn't a contaminant but it responds to the antibiotics that he's getting already, in which case we could still get out of here sooner rather than later.
The "no fever" part may pose a problem, however, as we're pretty certain Cole is running low grade fevers due to a chemo, cytaribine, that he's currently getting. Tomorrow is his last dose of it, though, so hopefully we can keep the fevers to a minimum.
It's hard not to want to just get out of here. I truly find the hospital to be a dragging, dull place. The atmosphere is lightened by Cole himself and the staff here, but it's still hard not to resent just being here. My mood, though, has gotten better since I got a little bit of sleep. A little...
I think it's easier on Dalynn, but I can't figure out why. I think it may have something to do with feeling comfortable with being in someone else's care, whereas I don't take as much comfort from that. It's really hard to say. Maybe it's just a guy thing, lol!
The main thing that I keep telling myself, though, is that it's important for Cole to get better. So, I'm constantly revising my impatience with that. Not an easy thing to continually do, but it's possible.
All in all, though, I do feel a peace, whether or not it's the peace of the Holy Spirit, I honestly can't say, but I feel a peace. I'm not overly concerned with the bacteria, and part of that is that Dr. Werner, the most conservative of the oncology docs, isn't overly concerned with it. Part of me figures that if he doesn't see a reason to worry and be cautious, then there may be no reason to.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
This is a video of our other child, Logan. I pulled out my guitar tonight and Logan decided he'd break it down for us.
I quite honestly don't mention Logan a lot, but I'd like to change that. As you can imagine we've been very focused on Cole's treatment, but we haven't forgotten about Logan at all. I'll give you a little update on him.
He's recently, in the past two weeks, started motoring around on all fours. You put him down in one spot, turn your back, and he's gone. A couple days ago, I put him down in the living room, then went to get some water. I hadn't even started putting the water in the cup when a horrendous crash came out of the living room. Dalynn and I ran in there as fast as we could, but Logan was fine. He was up on his knees, looking at the table he'd just pulled over, wondering what all the noise was about.
He also thinks his brother is the best thing since sliced bread and a very tasty teething ring. Logan, Cole and I spent the morning before I went to work playing. We were playing on the floor and Logan kept leaning over and trying to bite Cole. Cole was not a fan of this, "He's touching me!" However, if Logan wasn't trying to gum Cole to death, he just wanted to be near him. It's was very sweet.
I'll try to keep you all up to date on Logan as well as Cole.
Cole starts the second leg of delayed intensification tomorrow. He's done with the first leg, and is recovering well, though we don't know how the next leg will effect him. Our prayer request now is that Cole will not have any side effects from this next leg, specifically that he won't run a fever. A lot of kids run fevers as a side effect, and since they're neutropenic, that's a passport to the hospital until the fever clears up. Being in the hospital is very difficult, so we'd prefer to not go there.