He took a header into the spoon full of cherries.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Fun with the Johnny jump up
I posted a new video last night. Beware! all of the movement and high pitched squeals (from Mommy) may make you ill. If you look real close you may be able to see his teeth.
We had some great pictures of Charlie in the jump up when he was around 6 months old. Here is a blast from the past.
We had some great pictures of Charlie in the jump up when he was around 6 months old. Here is a blast from the past.
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| Charlie Jump Up |
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Cancer Update: Routine Care
The last Cancer update was back in October! As they say, "No news is good news." We can honestly say that it has been a pretty mild past few months.
In November we took the kids to South Bend over Thanksgiving. We took the risk and flew on a plane with Charlie. We tried to get him to wear a mask, but he wasn't having any of it. Luckily in November the only thing we had to deal with was an ear infection. A simple call to the oncology department while we were on vacation and the antibiotics were filled in Indiana. He was better in no time and we survived our first big trip out of state and away from our doctors.
Charlie is on a monthly chemo schedule now. In December his ANC was just above 1000 at the first of the month. He received Vincristine through his port and that month his doctor decided to stop the pentamidine, which is an IV drug to ward off a form of pneumonia. You saw how well it guarded him back in October... so he is back on the Septra pills on the weekend. Towards the end of the month we went to Crested Butte for the Hooper family ski trip. We packed up the lysol and hand sanitizer and hoped for the best as far as "communal living" and germs were concerned. The trip did not last long. Daniel was sick with the flu and nearly everyone in the house ended up with a nasty stomach bug. We left the ski trip after only 3 days for fear of Charlie getting sick and us being so far from a medical facility that could treat him. In the end he did not get the flu bug and we were pleased. I hate the fact that we have to remove him from family, but its a new way of dealing with things. Chad and I both felt that if we had stayed and exposed him to more of the virus we would be considered negligent cancer parents. We are already very lax compared with other parents I know who have cut out all air travel and socialization if their kids ANC is below a certain level. It was eye opening in October to see how quickly he developed pneumonia, within hours his fever was 105 and we were in the ER. It's hard to remember when you don't see him acting sick that he is vulnerable.
We did not escape the Children's hospital in January. The night of Daniel's baptism I went to change Charlie into Jammies and noticed his entire body was covered in a viral rash. His fever spiked to 103 and at 11pm that Sunday night we left Daniel with Mike and Mary who were visiting and took Charlie back up to the ER. It was just some sort of virus, but the fever lasted for almost a week before finally tapering off. Chad and I had to trade off staying home with Charlie and taking him up for multiple rounds of blood counts. At the beginning of January his ANC was around 1000, at time of infection it was over 7000 (very bad), and as of last week he was hovering around 2200. Pretty good.
We can tell that the nightly chemo pills and monthly chemo injections take their toll on his little body. Its pretty common for Charlie to fall asleep in the car after school and be so tired when he gets home that most nights he is in bed at 7pm or before. Sometimes he is too tired to even eat dinner and he asks to go to bed.
For the most part, Cancer has become routine. Chemo at the beginning of the month. Then Steroids for a week. Cranky Charlie. A week after Steroids his ANC drops VERY low and he picks up some virus. That virus incubates for a few days and by the 22-25th of the month he gets a fever or virus symptoms and we are either in the ER or calling the docs. We've managed this routine for the past couple of months and it's not as scary any more. I think we can handle what the next 2 years throw at us...
In November we took the kids to South Bend over Thanksgiving. We took the risk and flew on a plane with Charlie. We tried to get him to wear a mask, but he wasn't having any of it. Luckily in November the only thing we had to deal with was an ear infection. A simple call to the oncology department while we were on vacation and the antibiotics were filled in Indiana. He was better in no time and we survived our first big trip out of state and away from our doctors.
Charlie is on a monthly chemo schedule now. In December his ANC was just above 1000 at the first of the month. He received Vincristine through his port and that month his doctor decided to stop the pentamidine, which is an IV drug to ward off a form of pneumonia. You saw how well it guarded him back in October... so he is back on the Septra pills on the weekend. Towards the end of the month we went to Crested Butte for the Hooper family ski trip. We packed up the lysol and hand sanitizer and hoped for the best as far as "communal living" and germs were concerned. The trip did not last long. Daniel was sick with the flu and nearly everyone in the house ended up with a nasty stomach bug. We left the ski trip after only 3 days for fear of Charlie getting sick and us being so far from a medical facility that could treat him. In the end he did not get the flu bug and we were pleased. I hate the fact that we have to remove him from family, but its a new way of dealing with things. Chad and I both felt that if we had stayed and exposed him to more of the virus we would be considered negligent cancer parents. We are already very lax compared with other parents I know who have cut out all air travel and socialization if their kids ANC is below a certain level. It was eye opening in October to see how quickly he developed pneumonia, within hours his fever was 105 and we were in the ER. It's hard to remember when you don't see him acting sick that he is vulnerable.
We did not escape the Children's hospital in January. The night of Daniel's baptism I went to change Charlie into Jammies and noticed his entire body was covered in a viral rash. His fever spiked to 103 and at 11pm that Sunday night we left Daniel with Mike and Mary who were visiting and took Charlie back up to the ER. It was just some sort of virus, but the fever lasted for almost a week before finally tapering off. Chad and I had to trade off staying home with Charlie and taking him up for multiple rounds of blood counts. At the beginning of January his ANC was around 1000, at time of infection it was over 7000 (very bad), and as of last week he was hovering around 2200. Pretty good.
We can tell that the nightly chemo pills and monthly chemo injections take their toll on his little body. Its pretty common for Charlie to fall asleep in the car after school and be so tired when he gets home that most nights he is in bed at 7pm or before. Sometimes he is too tired to even eat dinner and he asks to go to bed.
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| Asleep in the car after school |
For the most part, Cancer has become routine. Chemo at the beginning of the month. Then Steroids for a week. Cranky Charlie. A week after Steroids his ANC drops VERY low and he picks up some virus. That virus incubates for a few days and by the 22-25th of the month he gets a fever or virus symptoms and we are either in the ER or calling the docs. We've managed this routine for the past couple of months and it's not as scary any more. I think we can handle what the next 2 years throw at us...
Daniel 7 Months
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| Daniel 7 months |
Kind of a slim selection of pictures this month. There are quite a few from the baptism and when Grandaddy was here. I blame the lack of pictures on the fact that our little casio point and shoot camera is on its last leg. Time to replace and hopefully next month we will have better pictures of both the kids.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Teeth!
Daniel has two teeth! The bottom front two popped out somewhere around 1/14/11. Honestly Mom and Dad can't be sure the exact date. Nana noticed them first when she went to pick Daniel up from school. He had been teething, drooling and gnawing on anything he could find, so I am not surprised that they popped out this early! We will try to get a picture for the baby book at least.
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