Thursday, September 27, 2012

It's nice to be home

Cameron did really well today! It was like a symphony...once one thing stopped it just flowed into the next procedure with no obstacles!  I  really love how smooth & streamlined the process is some days. When they "plugged him in" yesterday, the poke of the IV tubing into his port, for the first time he didn't even cry once.  I think he is accepting this is just a fact of life now. I reminded him of what was going to happen for his sedation, the play by play, and he did really well.  He is really restless tonight but so far the nausea is under control. All of that today & he got his flu shot too! He is so much tougher than I will ever be! Ya gotta love him! Thank you for all of the prayers, I am sure that is why it went so smoothly today!! Thank you!!  :)

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Cleaning day!

Whew! Our house is almost completely disinfected, wiped & bleached! Ready for his immune system to take the hit. It is so hard to take your happy little guy to the hospital & know they will give him strong medicine that will make him feel crummy. Ugh! It goes against mom instincts for sure! I guess we just have to keep our eye on the end of all of this & it's all for the cure, now it is super close! :)

He passed!

He passed his blood test!! Very exciting to be on our last hard phase.  Whaaa hoo! 57 more days until the maintenance phase if he stays on track!! It is nice to have an actual countdown now! They said it will be 7 to 10 days before his resistance to infection really drops to the super scary level, so we will enjoy the calm before the storm :)

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Testing to see if we start our last round of "Hard Chemo"

We go in to check Cameron's blood to see if his ANC# (resistance to infection) is high enough to start our last round of the "Hard Chemo".  If he passes his blood test here we go....bring on the steroids for 21 days!! He plumped up pretty fast last time! He is going to get HUGE this time since he will be on them longer than last time. He will also get Vincristine(the mean to his knees med), Doxorubicin(drops his ANC# bigtime & colors his tinkle red) and a spinal tap with Methotrexate put in his spine(kills the cancer hiding in his spinal fluid). That is just what he gets this week! Then he has to go back in 4or 5 days to get another chemo that takes all day to complete. We get that every week until day 29 then it is a whole new variety of Chemo after that. Here comes the scary low immune system too. I plan to hide in our house as much as possible for the next 2 months.   It is amazing how they have just the right combo to hit this with every tool they have! Off we go!!!  :)

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Getting ready for the next round of chemo!










Cameron goes in for a blood test here in town on Wed the 26th to see if his ANC# (resistance to infection) is high enough to start the next final round of treatment before maintenance!!!! We are so close now :) this round should finish around the end of November if he doesn't get delayed due to low blood count numbers on day 29 of this 64 day phase. They said it is not unusual to be delayed on th

at day 29 recheck. Good to know. It is really nice they know what to expect. We might be a little needy this round as far as help with the twins ect. If this is anything like the last time he was on these steroids and other meds, it may be a bumpy ride. He pretty much clung to me the whole time and had so much nausea all I could do was basically just sit and hold him. We watched a lot of Blues Clues! This time around I think/hope we have the nausea beast tamed. Now that we know his magic formula for the anti-nausea meds. Just when you think you have got it down...everything changes! I guess it is all part of the adventure! We will take all of the prayers we can get! Thank you! :)

Friday, September 14, 2012

He is hanging in there!

So far Cameron is doing pretty well with his cold, no fever yet!  It sure is nice this bug came along while his resistance was up a little.  I check on him a million times a night, but still he is doing well. It is so scary because his ANC# (resistance to infection) can drop or jump so dramatically overnight.  We are mentally preparing ourselves for the big drop in ANC# once this last round starts on Sept 27th.  That will be the truly scary time with all of the cold & flu bugs out there :) We are just thinking positive thoughts, hand sanitizer & disinfecting bleach wipes!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Here comes the cold bug!!!

Cameron is getting a cold. I called the doctors office and they said to watch for the fever. Since his ANC# (resistance to infection) was at a decent level at last check, there is nothing they can do until he gets a fever. Since he is fighting this cold we are starting the lock-down for him early. It is scary to expose him to more colds when he is fighting this one already.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Happy to be home!!

It is so nice to have Cameron home & playing with his brother & sister. He is not eating much & looks run down but he is in good spirits!! Our next appointment is Thursday, Sept 27th for the start of the final round of hard chemo. This one will have every kind of chemo we have had so far...combined all in one round. He will be on steroids again so here comes the big belly & massive appetite! I
am looking forward to him gaining some weight but not the "Roid Rage" it is an adventure too. He is so sweet it's hard to imagine him with a short fuse anyway. I am sure he will just skip over that part :) This round will wipe out his immune system...so we will pretty much be in lock-down for the next 57 days. This is really the round we will need big prayers to keep him safe from the cold & flu season. I think I will go dip my house in bleach now :) We are so thankful for all of the love & support from everyone!!! :)

Sunday, September 9, 2012

We get to go home today!!!

Its graduation day!! We get to go home tonight.  It will be late, but home is the plan!! Yayyyy!

Friday, September 7, 2012

He had a pretty good night!

He had a pretty good night I only went to the family laundry room once! The high dose Methotrexate has to run in for 24hrs straight so it will be finished around 5:30 tonight. Then, he gets a reversal medicine to stop the Metotrexate from working called Leukovorin. He will start a 72hr flush to get it all out of his system. Once he is on the flush, he can go play outside on the paved courtyard! He is such an outside kid! When he is out there playing, I can see people watching him through the windows smiling at what a silly he is. It makes me feel good that he can make these other sick kids & their families smile! Good job Cam!!!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

He passed his blood test!!

He passed his blood tests so off we go to Doernbechers tomorrow morning for the next 4 days! Yayy this will complete this phase of chemo for him!!!!! In a few weeks we will start the last hard phase of his treatment!!! Then maintenance!!! Whew, getting closer!!! :)

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Happy Birthday Cameron he is the big "2"

Cameron is having a great birthday so far, he slept in until 10:15 am!! We moved a twin bed into his bedroom so mom could be close by and it seems to be working. He was able to sleep in his crib all night until about 6am!! Whew! He goes in tomorrow morning to have his blood counts checked to see if his ANC# is high enough to pass 750, or higher is the magic# to qualify. If he passes then Thursday morning we are off to Doernbechers for 4 days for his last in-patient chemo!!!!! This will complete phase 3 of 4 hard treatments! We are getting one step closer to the finish!! Yayyyyy!

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Its been a long week :)

Sorry I haven't been that good about updating this week.  Its been a pretty hard week with Cameron.  He has been hard to get to eat and won't go to sleep unless he is laying on mom or dad.  This is both bedtime & nap time.  At night after a while he will let you lay him in his bed, but then wakes up in a few hours letting the whole house know how upset he is.  This is VERY different from his usual sweet nature & easy bedtimes. It all started when he got home from the hospital on last Sunday. It may be that he is just almost 2 or it may be the accumulation of all of the high dose methotrexate & other chemo.  The doctors said its not possible to spoil a kid with cancer on chemo because the feel miserable and can't tell you what they need.  On the upside we are getting a lot of cuddle time with him  :) The toys are all moved upstairs (heartbreaking for mom to see them go) and we are almost ready for the cold & flu season for him.  That is a big job all in itself. It has been nice to have his counts up & not have to be as paranoid.  We will start being super paranoid of germs & colds in the next few weeks.  We are getting ready for the lockdown! Its been a busy week.