I meant to write all week and the time completely escaped me.
Here is a brief (“brief”? A bit of levity there…) update from our week.
Monday: Chase went back into surgery to have his infected central line removed and a PICC line placed (in his arm).
Tuesday: We finally got to go home!! …in time to meet Grandpa and Grandma’s flight. (Early bedtime? Say what?)
Wednesday: Bob and I checked Aidan into outpatient surgery at our local hospital – to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. Surgery was successful.
Having to show up for surgery at 6:00 A.M…. Well, we may recover some day. Aidan was a pro and he was genuinely excited about all the little things like monitoring vitals, the beds and the ID bracelets because he was getting to be just like Chase. Watching them compare their hospital ID bracelets was both heart-breaking and a little hilarious.
Thursday: Thursday is our scheduled chemo day. Anytime you think of us on a Thursday, we’d so appreciate your prayers. This day meant rising early to get back to “Chase’s Hospital” (he really does call it his hospital) for his labs, chemo, and another lumbar puncture (injecting chemo into his spine). This day was INCREDIBLY encouraging to us because Chase had been able to come home for a day (something never to be taken for granted on this chemo protocol), his counts had dropped – but not as low as they’d expected (so he could come back home instead of being admitted), and despite eating almost nothing, his body was doing well on the IV nutrition and he hadn’t lost any weight since his discharge on Tuesday!
Friday: The first day in SO many days that we didn’t have to be in either a hospital or a doctor’s office. Ahhh… We ended the day with a small celebration…cuddling up on the couch in our pajamas and watching the “Apple Dumpling Gang.” Silly and perfect and all together for a moment.
Saturday: Chase had a rough night and a slight fever in the morning. The fever got higher as the morning passed and we brought him back to the hospital early in the afternoon. (fevers in a chemo patient are really important as they are usually indicative of a system issue that the body can’t fight due to it’s lack of white blood cells).
Sunday morning: I’m writing this blog post from an inpatient room in “Chase’s hospital.” Chase will be here until he completes a course of antibiotics, the fever is under control, and his blood counts start going back up.
Even though it’s hard to be back in the hospital, we have so much to be thrilled about this week… two kids through two surgical procedures in two hospitals with no complications, Chase doing far better than expected, for longer than expected after his chemo clinic, and getting a special family evening to relax in the middle of the chaos.
Moment by moment…