November
Nov. 2nd...
"I went to Cheo today for my chemo and things are going great. I had a finger poke for my blood work today and you know what?... It didn't hurt. I was really brave. When it came time for my chemo ... Jessica... my friend... she held my hand and told me to wiggle my toes and you know what else... my leg poke didn't hurt either... I didn't scream at all for any of my pokes!! I am so proud of myself but I couldn't have done it without Jessica there to help me. Thanks Jessica... you're the best!!!"
"My mom says that my blood work was GREAT! Because I am on the prednisone this week my counts are really high... mom say that goes along with me being just a little hyper this week... hehe!!! They are wbc 8.7, hgb 124, platelets 232 and neutrophils 7.3"
Michael is doing fantastic so unless there are any changes in his walking or health we won't update here again until November 9th when he goes for chemo again... till then ... see ya!
November 9th...
On Nov. 8th we had the blood work drawn which didn't go well as it did last week in Ottawa. For some reason he was very stressed and wouldn't willingly get into the van. I had to force him into the clinic. Then we needed 2 of us to hold him to do his blood work. Afterwards we went to the pharmacy to get some type of finger poke device as our lab doesn't have what Cheo has. We got one and Mike seems to be happy about it... we will see next week!
Today I picked Mike up from school and drove directly to the dr. office for his check up and chemo ... once again he wouldn't go into the building. Finally I convinced him to go in. He stalled until I had to carry him upstairs. They're really great at our doctors office so that is not the problem. The problem is fear of the needles. Also I don't think it helps waiting until the end of the day for chemo. We are going to try going next week after lunch to see if it makes a difference. His counts are basically good wbc 4.6, platelets 239, neutropolys 1.8 but his hgb took a dive this week to an all time low of 103. No wonder he has been tired. Hopefully it will come back up or else he is going to require a blood transfusion if it goes below 80. He also grew 1/2 of an inch in 3 weeks which really surprised the doctor so much that the remeasured Michael. If chemo stunts your growth could you imagine how much he might have grown?
He also got the last part of his flu needle today along with his IM mtx (leg needle). Those didn't go well at all. He was upset and hid under the nurses desk. We convinced him to come out with a little package of skittles... hey it worked... but he was very upset and scared. Everything that we did at Cheo didn't seem to help here at home. He is totally fine after we are done but we need to deal with his fear of needles and helping him to relax. He did wiggle his toes and that helped a bit but it is that fear we have to deal with. If anyone who reads this can come up with some type of relaxation therapy that may work for him... please e-mail us... we will try anything. Other than that he is doing very well and we are very fortunate to have just the fear issue to deal with as others have a lot more going on.
He goes back for blood work on Nov. 15th and chemo once again on the 16th. This time Dad is coming too and we will see what we can do together.
November 16th...
Well yesterday we had blood work again but this time we went with the finger poke and boy what a difference it made. There was only a bit of hesitation on Michael's part but all in all it is a lot easier than blood being drawn from his arm.
He had chemo today (IM mtx)... counts are wbc 6.3, hgb 135, neutropolys 3.0 and platelets 342.
These counts are higher than they have been in months and I was concerned about them so I phoned Cheo right away. They told me that there are a number of things that are going on. First of all his bone marrow is having a rebound effect and working great also he has a slight cold and had his flu needle last week so this could account for the elevated counts. Also the other thing is that finger pokes are not as accurate so they may in reality be a bit lower. But Cheo is very pleased with his counts.
We also tried some relaxation therapy. When Michael was first in the hospital he had a lullaby tape that he listened to nonstop. So we got a Walkman and put his tape in and of course Dad was there. This reduced his stress level by at least 75%. Also we changed the time that he has chemo ...Normally he went after school but this meant that he had to wait all day to go for chemo... we went in the morning as soon as we had his counts and then rewarded him with McDonald's. He then returned to school as happy as can be... It is quite the learning process!
Next week he has his appointment in Ottawa at Cheo and he also is having a session with Julie his relaxation therapist.
Proud owners of Sens Tickets! Daddy made me wear this!!!
Nov. 23rd...
Today was al long day at Cheo... we arrived there at 10:00am and we left by 2:30pm. It was very busy in the clinic today and Mike was very good. We are so proud of him! His blood counts are good: wbc 5.48, hgb 131, neutrophils 3.17, and platelets 279.
"normal blood counts are wbc (5.0 to 14.5) hemoglobin (115 to 135) neutropholys(1.5 to 8.0) and platelets (150 to 450)
Normally Michael's counts are lower and that is where they could prefer them to be but right now he is fighting a cold and this just shows that his body is doing its' job.
Michael had school with Barb at Cheo which due to his cold was one on one in isolation. He usually has school with Jessie but we didn't want to expose anyone to his cold.
He also met with Julie who did relaxation therapy with him which really seemed to help him. So for now we will be going every 2 weeks down to Ottawa so that we can participate in this therapy for him.
I also finally met with the physiotherapist and she considers him a NORMAL 5 year old physically at this time and feels that there is no need to re-evaluate him until Feb. of next year. Great news!!
After seeing what the relaxation therapy did for Mike today we are confident that he will be able to learn to relax and accept the things he cannot change.
We are very proud of our brave little boy!!
Michael also has grown 4 cm in height and he weights 18.9 kg. No weight gain but he did stretch up... We all felt pretty good leaving the clinic today... and a huge thank-you to Elaine for setting up the relaxation therapy for Mike!!
Nov. 30th...
blood counts are: wbc 6.8, hgb 132, platlets 172 and neutropolys 4.4
All week we have been practicing relaxation exercises at bedtime. It would normally take Michael 30 minutes or more to fall asleep but after doing these exercises he fell asleep in less than 5 mins. every night.
And the best news of all is that we had his needle today and he didn't even feel it he was so relaxed. He had Barney music in his headset with his eyes closed and he was singing away while I dragged my finger across his face softly. Daddy barely held his feet and then it was over. Daddy had to tell us that it was done and Michael didn't believe that the Dr. had even given him his needle. He didn't feel a thing!!!!
What can I say Elaine?? We really owe you big time for putting us onto that relaxation therapy... it has made a huge difference for us all.
THANK - YOU!! {{Elaine}}
Oh by the way, incase some of you didn't know... Michael lost his hair again... that was related to the vincristine he had back in October which usually affects his nerves in his feet causing difficulties in his walking. But we would rather loose his hair any day as that will grow back soon... :) and his feet are perfect!!
|