As expected, yesterday was a bit of a marathon, especially for Karli. She didn't get home until 8.30, so was at the hospital for almost 12 hours. I had come home a little earlier. Oliver didn't actually start his chemotherapy until about 4pm. In the morning he had his blood taken and we were then fortunate enough to be given a room in the ward. With such a long day ahead it was nice to have some space to ourselves. After meeting with Dr Angela we headed off to the operating theatr rso that Oliver could have a lumbar puncture and some more bone marrow aspirations and trephines (suck out some marrow and take some bone). After getting back we then headed off to get an x-ray taken of Oliver's port to try to figure out why it wasn't bleeding back. Then it was back to the ward to wait for results of the x-ray. The decision was to use the line as it still allowed for fluids to be flushed in, so he had the necessary chemo given through his port and then they innjected some altaplase to dissolve a small clot that appeared to have formed on the end of his line that was acting like a valve. Unfortunately, the altaplase didn't work. They tried twice during the afternoon, then sent Karli home with altaplase in Oliver's line. They went back in at 8 this morning, but the line still wouldn't bleed back. It seems like we may have to have another one put in.
Oliver is steadily going down hill after his chemo. He is much more tired and clingy. He is starting to become a little more voracious with his eating. His bottom has started to break down again, and he seems to be in some pain. Hopefully we can get ahead of the curve with his bottom because it became quite bad last time. With any luck we will get a special barrier cream tomorrow.
He has a few more medications to take at the moment. The scariest being one of the new ones - mercaptopurine. It's scary because we need to wear gloves when handling it and avoid it touching any skin. But we are injecting it into his stomach. I'm sure it has something to do with the acidity of his stomach that it's harmless inside him, but it really brings home the nature of his treatment. It's going to be a long 11 months.
1 comment:
Time and time again I take my hat off to the pair of you. You are both doing so well dealing with everything that's being thrown at you. Reading about Oliver's poor little bottom makes me cringe, as it gives me something - although somewhat trivial in the scheme of things - to try to relate to in some way, shape or form. I know how upset Tyran gets if he even has the slightest rash down there. Hopefully, like you said Simon, this time you might be armed with the right 'stuff' to get on top of it sooner.
It's so great that you get glimpses of your happy, little boy (monday's entry), so hopefully it recharges you both enough to cope with the downhill parts of this journey.
We love you all, and are thinking of you constantly...
the Qld Roeys x x x
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