First of all, yes, we are home; Mark and Austin were released by 10 o’clock this morning after several good blood pressures in a row. His nephrologist noted that the overnight hydration coincided with the spike in his BP, which makes sense because those fluids are basically saline, containing, duh, sodium! So after all that […]
This is like some big cosmic joke. Last night was fine: typical, long, with many interruptions for checking blood pressure and administering medications. In between the two bags of blood, he was given a diruetic to lower his blood pressure so he peed through his diaper (twice) and we neeeded to change the sheets at […]
Three guesses where I’m spending the night … We went in this morning for labs and found that his platelets have risen, slightly. His hemoglobin was a bit lower though, so he needed both blood and platelets. It’s not unusual, you know, to need blood products when you’re receiving chemo — it does destroy blood […]
He needed platelets again yesterday. And again today. His body just can’t keep hold of them. I don’t really understand the science behind it but something about his antigens “chewing them up.” Yesterday was actually our “quick” day as it lasted only four-and-a-half hours and we were out in time to pick Braedan up from […]
Isn’t there a movie where some guy says in a breathy accent, “For you, dahling, never a quickie. Always a longie”? That’s sort of how my life feels and I’m not talking dirty here. I brought Braedan along for Austin’s “quick” lab work yesterday, thinking we’d be in and out in an hour and still […]
We’ve been hanging in there. Despite all my complaining about last week’s wasted hours, we still managed to squeeze in some fun. Monday afternoon, the boys and I went to the Natural History Museum to check out those dinosaur bones and admire the otters’ swimming abilities. And, after all that delay, we also managed to […]
Oh, the hours and hours and hours that that place sucks out of my life. It is especially hard on a gorgeous spring week like this when my kids are off school and should be going on fun family outings but instead we spend day after day holed up in that damn hospital. Let’s see, […]
Alright, finally, some details. I was just too plain exhausted last night to try to explain all this but the most important piece of information is simple and good. In terms of his cancer, in terms of growth or spreading or spots or shadows, we see nothing unusual. There is “no evidence of disease” in […]
We’re still waiting for the official results, but a few hours ago I did get this text from Austin’s oncologist: “So far, so good. I’ll call later with the final results.” So, there you have it. Now you know as much as we know. And you can feel as relieved as we feel.
In the Time-Never-Slows-Down category, Austin has an MRI of his abdomen and CT scan of his chest tomorrow to check for signs of cancer. These are his “end-of-treatment” scans which might be a serious misnomer. Or might not. We’re only officially scheduled for one more three-day round of chemo, which will bring us successfully (or […]