Nick and I went to Children's Hospital yesterday, Thursday 2/24, for his third dose of chemo. The day was much shorter than our "normal" clinic days. We were done in just under 6 hours. I think that may be a record for us. I count it as an unexpected blessing.
Nick has handled the chemo very well so far. He hasn't had any problems with nausea or extreme tiredness like in the past. He felt like going to school all day today. That is definitely another blessing. I know I always feel better when my kids feel good.
The oncologist and I talked about the high fever episode from last week. Since all of Nick's tests (including the blood cultures) were negative, he is fairly certain that Nick had the beginnings of a meningitis type reaction to the high dose IVIG. I had no idea that this reaction even existed. Thankfully, Nick didn't have the full blown reaction. Apparently, when it happens it is very violent.
I told the doctor that we could not keep doing these high fever ER trips every time Nick gets the high dose IVIG. He agreed and is working on developing a new plan. It will likely be a decreased dose of IVIG that will be slowly built back up over time. There is also the thought of adding some additional steroids with the IVIG to help keep the reaction down.
We don't have to be concerned as much when Nick receives the IVIG with his chemo. He already takes high dose steroids for 5 days after the infusion as a part of his chemo. That should be enough to control the reaction then.
I also talked to the doctor about the small mass against the back wall of the upper small intestine. He said it is not new. It has been there. He hasn't mentioned it, because his concern has been focused on getting the larger masses taken care of first. Since the two big places are shrinking, he is going to be watching the two smaller places more closely.
Nick will return to Children's Hospital on March 17 for the next dose of chemo and IVIG. The plan is three weeks after that to do more CT scans to check on the masses and see if the chemo is still working.
Thank you so very much for the thoughts and prayers.
Please keep praying.
In His Grip,
Kristy Baxley
1 comment:
Hi,
Glad to hear that your trip to B'ham seems to have been pretty positive. You don't know how often you and the kids are thought of by our family and how you are in ours prayers. May God give you all peace and bless with improved health and healing. God Bless you all, Sandra
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