Today

We awoke bright and early at 5:45 am.  Trevor and I got dressed, and then woke Shad up, put his brace on and headed to the hospital.

When we got there we had to go to admissions and check into the PICU for the day.  It took about 25 minutes and we were upstairs by about 7:20.  They had a room and a bed all ready for us.  Shad climbed up and was all ready to get the show on the road.  Typical of any trip to the hospital it was kind of a hurry up and wait type situation.  We had one of the nurses that we had when we were in the PICU, he was happy to see Shad up and walking around, and impressed that their relationship had progressed from Shad being scared of him taking his temperature, to Shad not even crying when he accessed his port.  

At about 5 to 8 the flood of people came (4 or 5) and began prepping him for sedation.  Shad fights it so much, he doesn't like to just give up and go to sleep.  The gave him the first dose and he was still awake and carrying on conversations with everyone.  They gave him more until he finally gave up.  They intubated him, since they had to put him into such a deep sleep, just to protect his airway.  Trevor and I gave him a kiss and went to get some breakfast.  He headed off to MRI a little before 9:00.  We waited in the room until he got back at about 12:00.  He started to wake up, which was pretty entertaining.  He said some really random things as well as a lot of rambling.  Once he was able to eat and drink a little we were allowed to leave.  He really wanted to walk, but was still a little bit too drowsy, so he was a little tipsy.  Although it was entertaining, we didn't want him to hurt himself, so Trevor carried him most of the way.

We are anxious to hear what the results are next week.  Hopefully the doctor is able to make it in (he is scheduled for jury duty).  

Blood, Platelets, and Orthopedics

     While Shad was in the hospital for round 4 of chemotherapy, his hemoglobin levels got really low, so Dr. Pene decided to do a blood transfusion.  They ended up doing it in the middle of the night so Shad slept right through it with no problems at all.  The worst part was when we had to wake him up to take the Tylenol and Benadryl that they administer before hand (2 reactions from blood transfusion can be itching, and fevers).

     We were able to leave the hospital on schedule Wednesday the 30th of January.  Unfortunately I came down with a crazy cough the night before, and so I pretty much tried to stay away from him as much as possible.  Luckily my mom came on Thursday, and was able to help out with him quite a bit which was really a lifesaver.  Thanks Mom!  I went to the Dr. on Friday to see if they could give me any medicine as cough drops and cough syrup weren't really doing anything.  They gave me some medicine, and I started feeling better a couple days later.  It was just a cold, but I never really had any congestion or anything else.  Luckily Shad is still healthy so I don't think he caught it.
     We went in for our first follow up appointment on Tuesday, and Shad's platelets were really low, so we had to stay for a transfusion.  We went downstairs and got some lunch while we waited for the platelets to come from the blood bank.  After we ate we went back upstairs and waited and waited some more.  Shad was watching a movie on a tv they had in the room for us, I crocheted and Trevor played on his phone/napped.  He got the benadryl and tylenol, and about 15 minutes later they started the transfusion.  It lasted about half an hour and then we were good to go.

     We went back again yesterday for the next follow up, and his counts were all much better.  He was even given the green light to go out if he wanted to.  The longer he goes through chemo the better I am getting at telling when his counts are low, and when they are going up.  When they are low he is a lot more moody, whiney, and tired.  As they get higher he becomes more and more like his normal self.  We go in again on Tuesday to check his counts again.  Dr. Pene wants to make sure that they get were they need to be so he can get all his scans the next week.  He is currently scheduled to have them on the 21st.  Dr. Pene is going to be gone that week, and possibly the start of the next, so we aren't sure when we will meet with him to find out what they said and discuss further options yet, but hopefully it won't be too long after.
     On Thursday we met with the orthopedist about Shad's back.  They did x-rays to make sure that his back is staying straight and lined up the way it is supposed to, and that the brace is still doing its job.  The doctor also talked some more about when the brace might be able to come off.  He said that they are going to treat Shad's back like a compound fracture, and so it should be able to heal in 6 weeks (probably less for his age).  As long as he doesn't have any more chemo for the next couple weeks (5), he should be able to get rid of the brace.  That means 5 weeks from the 30 we will go back in and do some xrays with the brace off, and see how things are looking.  They said even if he only goes 4 weeks without chemo it could be enough.  We will have to wait and see what happens after the scans.  Most likely we will go in around March 6 anyway, and do some X-rays without the brace just to see what things are looking like.