Sorry we have been missing on the blog the last few days. We were trying to take advantage of some time to relax, get some things done around the house, and catch up on work, but we're still here.
Day 15: First Outpatient Clinic Visit: Infusing Daunorubicin
Day 15: Enjoying one of his favorite snacks
Elliott has his first outpatient visit to the oncology clinic for evaluation and chemo treatment. His bloodwork continues to progress as would be expected with his white blood cell count continuing to decline, which means he is immune system is very weak. Again, this is what we would anticipate from the treatment, so no surprises there. The nurse took his vitals and accessed his Medi-port for the first time since he left the hospital to draw his bloodwork and get the line ready to administer the chemo medications. They prescribed us some numbing creme to put over the site where his port is accessed to ensure he did not feel any pain, and it does not appear that he did. After drawing the bloodwork, we visited with the oncologists and asked his our list of questions related to his low energy level and sporadic eating habits. It sounds like the low energy is something we can expect during this phase a treatment, so we felt a little more assured, but it will be certainly nice to see him pick up a little more energy at some point soon. We also were prescribed a couple more medications to ensure he is not having issues with nausea, reflux, or constipation, all potential side effects of the chemo.
In addition to the 2 chemo drugs, which only took about 20 minutes to infuse, he got sodium chloride to bring up his sodium levels which were a bit low. That infusion took about an hour, so we moved over to the pediatric infusion area. Elliott seemed relaxed through the entire visit and while we didn't utilize any of the electronics in the infusion area, William certainly had his eyes on the X-box and I am sure was already wondering how he can catch up on some of his video game playing when we come in for chemotherapy. After about 2 1/2 hours at the clinic, we were out the door.
Day 16: Elliott and Grandma (Kyllan's mom)
The rest of the weekend has been much of the same. Elliott continues to enjoy cuddling with on the couch with either me, William, or Sarah, a family friend from Florida who is helping us care for Elliott during the day while William and I are at work. She has been a huge help and has become a new play buddy for Laurel as well. Speaking of Laurel, she is really enjoying her new playset. She has been enjoying it each day, so it's nice to have something in our backyard so she can enjoy fun times in her own back yard. Laurel also enjoyed a play date with a friend who's mom is a colleague of William's. She then spent the rest of the weekend with my parents, so that gave us time to clean up, relax more, and even get in a date night on Saturday, since Sarah was kind enough to stay home with Elliott who was already asleep for the night. The date night was a nice distraction for William and me.
We closed out the weekend with transitioning Laurel's toddler bed into a "big girl bed", which she was excited about as well. She made both William and I get in the bed with her to read books, and we were happy to oblige.
This weekend will be another busy week. I have to travel for work this week, and Elliott has a clinic visit on both Tuesday to check his hemoglobin and Friday for his next round of chemo. Elliott is beginning to lose his hair as well and we anticipate we will see a good amount disappear this week. He has quite a bit, so perhaps it may take longer than the average person. I will miss his curly locks. They gave him such personality, but hopefully they will return quickly after his treatment is over.
We appreciate your continued prayers and support! Elliott has some great prayer warriors out there. :-)