Update:

Nicholas finished treatment on 11/18/2010. He will continue to go for blood work for the next 3 years. He is still in remission.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Day #2 in the Hospital

Hi All,
2pm Update:
Nick was released from the hospital. His ANC is up to 280 today. He has no fever and the doctor really believes he probably caught a cold and has been fighting it, on top of the steroids and chemo doses, it can knock him down. The doctors also feel it is better to be home these days than in the hospital. So we are going to take it easy this weekend and enjoy lots of family time. Nick will be back at clinic on Monday and hopefully his counts have re-bounded. Take care. Karen

10am Update:
We do not have too much news. Greg spent the night with Nick and he said everything went okay. They had to wake Nick at 10pm to give him the tamiflu and he was not to happy about it. He has to take it in liquid form and not the fun (starburst coated) pills. Greg feels he will still probably leave today, but not until late afternoon, after rounds. His WBC went up slightly to 1.9. Greg did not have any other numbers, but I will keep everyone posted. We figure we will be in 'lockdown' this weekend as a precaution for Nick. More to come.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Nick is in the Hospital

Update as 12 noon today:
Nick's fever has broken. He is feeling okay. The doctors have decided to go ahead and give him Tamiflu as a preventative. They also did a nose swab to check for the flu, H1N1, and any other viruses he might have. He is resting comfortably and watching Indiana Jones. We may be able to go home tomorrow, but we will have to wait and see how his counts are.


Hi Everyone,
I guess there was a reason for his ANC to drop over a week. I am back from my trip and glad I jumped on an earlier flight to be home. Nick had a great day today and a playdate with Michael. I was able to give him a hug before he fell asleep on the couch. Greg carried him to bed and he seemed to be fine. Nick ended up coming into our room around 11:30pm and we noticed he was feeling very warm. We took his temp. and it was 101.1. I mentioned before and I have to repeat it, we were waiting for this. I took him into the ER and the place was packed. We were both wearing masks and I was surprised to see many parents not wearing masks while their children were coughing away. I found the first person I could and asked for a room right away. I guess I thought I would be prepared for our ER visit, but it does not change. Nick did not like his port being accessed and cried through it. We are now up in the 'red' pod, a familiar place but it has been since March the last time we were here. Of course there are new restrictions, no visitors under 18, including siblings and the doors remain closed into the pod. The precautions are good. The doctor wants to start him on tamiflu. They do not think he actually has H1N1, but because of his counts and fever, it is a precautionary measure. His ANC is 60, pretty low from just Monday when he was clinic. His White blood cells is 1.2 and red blood cells at 9.4. I'll try to keep everyone posted on his progress back to a healthy bill. I am going to try and get some sleep. I think I have been up for 24 hours now. Take care. Karen

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Holding down the fort without the boss here

Karen is away on business for the first time since Nick was diagnosed. The boys miss mom but enjoy running all over me. Nick finally got his H1N1 shot at clinic Monday. They will not have any for Karen or I as they first anticipated. Our Nurse was telling me that the staff has not received it yet and may not get it through the clinic either. We are still scurring to try and get the other two immunized but we don't know when that will happen. Nick had a little unusual drop in his APC this week. It went from 2400 to 1200 even though he was on steroids (Usually steroids bump his APC..the opposite happened.) It could be attributed to the fact that Nick had a high white blood cell count last week that we think was caused by his body fighting a little cold, therefore his APC was pushed higher and now that his white blood cell is back down the APC dropped as well. No large concern shown by our Nurse Practitioner, I guess we will see what next week brings. It is now time to get kids to bed. Have a great week.
Sincerely,
Greg