Our sleepy baby

Seth HAD plans of trying to go to one class at school on Monday but he slept...ALL DAY! He only got up to go to the bathroom. Walking to the bathroom made him nauseas so I gave him some of his nausea medication. We did wake him up later to give him his growth factor shot. I was a little nervous to do it but we were successful. I'm also thankful because we were told just 6 mg of medication in this shot costs about $1000. Also thankful that this is covered by a program right now. He did manage to drink half the smoothie I made him that day too. 

Today he slept until about 1pm. He drank about half a smoothie again. We were told his tastes would change with chemo so to feed him whatever he'll actually eat. He was craving sidekicks pasta, so I went out and bought some, made it, and after one bite he threw up and decided he didn't want that anymore, poor guy. I thought this may happen so I also bought chicken noodle soup and crackers. He ate a whole package of crackers and almost 4 cups worth of soup, and it stayed down no problem. He didn't have energy to come upstairs so he stayed in our spare room all day again. Our bathroom downstairs is right off that bedroom so he wanted to sleep there. He did perk up this afternoon but never came upstairs at all.  

He has an appointment tomorrow for a PICC Line dressing change and bloodwork. The walk is way too long so my uncle hooked us up with a wheelchair. He has a friend who works in the medical equipment industry who said 'borrow it as long as you need.' We are very thankful for the generosity. I have asked our social worker about programs that may cover the need for this as well. ❤

They taught us how to give him this shot but also made sure we knew how to use because if we did it wrong the spring would activate and protect the needle as if it was already used.  If that happens before we administer it the medication would just be stuck inside and we'd need a new needle. Thankfully we were successful and we figured if it was that complicated they probably wouldn't get parents to do it. 😅

Happy Sunday :)

Seth's chemo round 2 went very well. He was discharged this afternoon at 4pm.

No vomiting, no nausea, no fever even! He is home and resting, chemo makes you nap like a baby again! LOTS of sleep happening. Praise God that this round went as good as can be. 

Tomorrow morning either Bryan or I will have to give Seth his growth factor shot. The nurses showed us how to do it, assuring us that it is simple and easy otherwise they wouldn't get parents to do it.😅 If Seth wanted a nurse to give it then it would've meant he'd have to stay at the hospital until tomorrow morning because it has to be given 24 hours after chemo. So he decided to give us a shot (pun intended.)😁

He is also (for now) taken off a bunch of medications for home. The only ones he still needs are sulfatrim which is only taken 3 days a week and then Vitamin D daily, which they said if you live in Alberta you should be taking that daily anyway. 

He is hoping to go to one class at school tomorrow and then rest. 

Good start!

 Yesterday Seth started Round 2 of chemo.  They gave him medication to battle the nausea and vomiting he experienced the first round.  So far it's been working well. His only side effect right now seems to be sleeping so praise God for that! Last night he was feeling good and we played games until 1 am (he had a private room). Then he slept all day.  Besides having to wake up to take medication or go to the bathroom, he was sleeping until about 3pm today.  We were just moved to another room so we have a roommate again but are thankful we had that one night in a private room to play games and not worry about being super quiet or having lights on. 

Ready for Round 2!

 Today Seth had an outpatient appointment at the hospital to check his blood counts and to change his PICC line dressing.  He did have a rash show up on his arm on Monday that was super itchy. We figured out it was from the solution they used to clean his skin around the PICC line.  We discovered this because they used it on his wrist too and those were the only 2 places that the rash show up. So they will use a different solution from now on.  I was told to give him some allergy medication and if that didn't work they would give him some cream for it.  

His blood counts were very good.  The growth factor shot they gave him sent his marrow into overdrive so his white blood count is high.  He is reacting well thankfully, and with little to no side effects.  Usually with that shot you can have sore bones, and the other medications he is on can have some side effects as well and right now all he had was this rash.  I remember asking people to pray that he had little to no side effects and God is indeed granting us what we've prayed for and we thank and praise Him for that. 

They were also ready to admit Seth today to start Round 2 of chemo.  We knew we were at the end of the Round 1 cycle but didn't know they'd be admitting him. I had made him a dentist appointment for a tooth that was bothering him and asked if we could come tomorrow afternoon as that appointment is tomorrow morning.  We were told that would be fine because they had no beds available in the oncology ward today anyway.  They had a couple people they were planning on discharging today so a couple beds would be available but waiting until tomorrow was completely fine.  So praise God for that also! His timing for things has been such a blessing.  Any prayer I've had so far for 'timing' has been granted. 💕

So, Seth's body is ready for Round 2 and that is set to begin tomorrow.  They will start off by giving him lots of fluids to help flush out the chemo. The plan is to be in the hospital about 4 days. 

Bye Bye Hair!

 Saturday Seth decided he had enough of the itchy head and despite his hair looking the same it was falling out a lot.  It was getting all over his pillow and collecting in his hoodies.  So not only was his head sore and itchy, he was itchy all over kind of like if you got a haircut and they never used a cape and never brushed the hair off of you.  

His little brother decided to do it too, and Bryan and Seth's uncle Jared shaved their beards off.  We went to a barber shop and they all did it together at the same time. 

Yesterday Seth was able to come to church in the afternoon for the first time since mid October.  We also plan to bring him to school this morning for the first time as well. He plans on doing about half a day if he can.  He feels good and has all week, he just gets tired easily.  

Seth was discharged last Monday afternoon so today is a week of being home.  Thankful he was healthy enough all week to stay home and have some normalcy again. 

Praise God ♡

The Hair

Seth is still at home! Praise God for keeping fevers away!

He is starting to lose his hair. He said his head is itchy and hurts and we noticed yesterday that he was ‘shedding’ but his hair still looks the same.

He loves his curly hair so we are leaving it up to him to choose when and how he wants to deal with it.

This is a picture I took a couple years ago of his natural curls. ❤️

First Outpatient Appointment

Seth had his first outpatient appointment today. 

He had his PICC line dressing changed and blood work done. I forgot in my updates, but this past Sunday he ended up needing a blood transfusion, so there was a possibility that he needed one again today but thankfully he didn't. 

If all goes well, Seth can be home to rest and let his body heal until his next appointment next week Wednesday, which is just for the same thing he had today. PICC line dressing change and bloodwork will be a weekly appointment. 

If Seth gets a fever we have to bring him to emergency within the hour, he has an 'Emergency Room Passport' and we have to phone the hospital ahead of time to tell them we are coming so that they can get him started on antibiotics right away.  

We have bags packed and ready to go at all times, and are very thankful that we are only 15 minutes away from the Stollery, so even if we end up staying longer and need a change of clothes or something, that's no big deal.