This picture was taken in the ER.

Updates

Chase is almost back to his old self. Except for the G-tube and not being as active, he is always in a good mood, smiling & playing. His taste in food also changed. Right now, he's into the fruit cup thing. It's was crazy during induction when he's taking steroids. He was eating everything in sight.

He also started a fever last Thursday. He slept for 6 hours & we knew something was up. When I woke him up, he's already running a temperature. This means another ER trip tonight. We left for the ER at 10 pm. Chase had an IV dose of antibiotics & they took a CBC. We were sent home because his counts were really good. We got home at 4:30 in the morning. His fever continued 0n Friday morning, had a break in the afternoon & came back again at night. I called the hem/onc doctor & knew that we need to go back to the ER. But, we decided not to bring him that night because he was acting fine & was active. This morning, he woke up with a fever. His temp was higher. So, we're back in the ER. His counts are still good & we're just waiting to find out what's next. I will update later.

5-26-09 Procedure

Today is the last LP scheduled for consolidation. Finally, we do not need to get up at 4:30 am to be in the hospital at 6. Chase was in a pretty good mood. He was smiling while watching DORA in the main OR room. His counts are also great. His ANC was 1500+ ( below 500, you are considered Neutropenic & can't be around a lot of people. Ability to fight infection is really low) His lowest that I know of is 180.

05-18-09 Going Home

Finally going home today. Chase had an LP with Chemotherapy (Methotrexate) this morning. He went to the OR at around 7:30 am. The procedure did not take that long. They also put in an NG tube (feeding tube) today. We tried several times to give his medicines orally. But, he spits most of it out. He needs to take this chemo drug Mercaptopurine (6-mp) for 28 days and it is important that he takes in the full dose.

HAIR STARTING TO FALL OFF

Last Wednesday night was the first time I saw some of his hair fall off . I saw a few strands on his pillowcase. I became very emotional. I know that all of his hair will fall off eventually. But, It was just hard to see. It also reminded me that this is CANCER.

The nurses kept saying, he still has a lot of hair. Some thought that he was just diagnosed. 95% of the kids have lost most of their hair at this point in treatment. But, as Dr Freyer said, His hair is as stubborn as he is.

4th day in the hospital

This is our 4th day in the hospital. Finally, Chase has no fever for more than 12 hours now. The Hem/Onc & Infectious disease doctor is now leaning towards viral/bacterial infection rather than fungal infection to his lungs because he is getting better without fungal treatment. THANK YOU GOD!!

His fever was on & off for the past few days. His temp was not as high as Wednesday's. But, they were concerned because it was persistent. Also, his CT Scan result show some cloud in his lungs which alarmed the doctors. They sent tests to check for all possible viral infections too.

Since he is immunosuppressed, he can get fungal infection normal person can't get & it can be very, very dangerous. It can put him on ICU.

He is still getting various antibiotics thru IV day & night. The doctors still want to see him without fever for another 24-48 hours & that means we are not going home tomorrow. The doctors also stressed to us how important for him to take his Bactrim, Fluconazole to help prevent these infections and his Chemotherapy to prevent relapse because they know how Chase is on taking his meds.

In the Hospital

We are officially admitted (05-13-09). We are at 430 B West. This is the same floor where we were the last time. But, on the West side where they have the patients with Solid Tumors. There were no available beds on the East wing. There were 3 beds in the room. This was the only available bed at this time. So, I will be the only one staying with Chase tonight.
Chase's fever was really high. The hospital uses a Tempa-dot which is in celcius. The highest temp on the strip is 40.4 celcius. His overnight temp is at 39 to 4o.4 or higher because the strip was all blue. The nurses brought him in the treatment room to try to give the Tylenol. He was screaming & kicking. They tried, but said he's a smart one. Chase was not able to take anything in so they will just do some cooling measures. They gave me cold compacts & ice. We also wet his hair & undressed him the whole night. His fever spiked again by 2ish so we had to give him a bath in the middle of the night. They gave Chase new antibiotics. Cefepime and Vancomycin.

I will try to add more to this post. Finally, there's 2 bars on the wifi connection so I was able to update. I will try to get some sleep while Chase is sleeping. It's 12:15 am now. PLEASE PRAY FOR CHASE!!! DOCTORS ARE STILL UNSURE WHERE THE FEVER IS COMING FROM.

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05-15-09

His fever is still high but not as high as yesterday's. The nurses had to put a feeding tube because of the fluids with contrast he needs to take for his CT scan. We had to put it in because he will not drink it & it was a lot of fluids. He's been crying because they strapped his hands to prevent him from pulling it out. It took them a while to put it in because he was fighting. Also, the night before, we did not sleep. He started crying at around 2ish & did not stop. He kept on saying ALL DONE & was trying to take his PICC line & IV off. All the nurses in 4 West already heard about his famous line - "ALL DONE".