Friday, August 31, 2012

Another month

Well, another month under our belt. The second month of chemo was way better than the first. Noah has been taking his meds so well and even learned how to swallow a pill quartered. It has been so much easier. But, it seems like it will be the calm before the storm. The next round will be more intense. He will be going in for IV chemo about every 10 days. Its called vincristine. He has received this since the start, but not this frequently. It causes cells to stop dividing. The side effects are severe constipation, pain in the jaw/face, back, joints and bones, foot drop, numbness, tingling in toes and fingers, extreme weakness and loss of muscle mass, drooping eye lids, hair loss, pain, blisters and skin loss if the drug leaks during administration. These are the most common side effects. The infrequent side effects are: headaches, dizziness, seizures and paralysis.

Because this drug can cause damage to the skin if it is leaked out of the IV, we have decided to put in another port. This decision has not come lightly, and I still have not felt God telling me that its the right decision. The port will go in Monday September 10. The timing is good now because his counts are up and stable, and he is not on the steroid anymore. I am happy with the timing as we have a family wedding on the 8th that I really wanted the kids to attend. They have been asked to say grace over the meal and I really want them to be able to do it. So its good that the port will go in after that. Also, this will able Noah to start school with everyone else on Wednesday. He may miss the entire next week, but we can only ask for a bit of normal at a time these days.

As for school starting, I am feeling very nervous. I don't want him to get sick at all. And I just can't picture him not being here with me all day. This is worse than the first day of kindergarten and grade one combined. We have spent alot of time together this summer and I don't feel like letting him face school alone with cancer.

As for Holly, I think the time apart from Noah will be good. I think she will really enjoy pre-school again this fall, and she is taking ballet and tap. I am not sure how we are going to organize all this. She has pre-school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and ballet on Fridays and cancer clinics are Tuesdays and Fridays. Hopefully it will all fall into place. Trying to be normal in a very hard, trying times is not easy. I lose my patience easier these days.

However, I did feel a bit of hope that I havn't felt yet. I spoke to a dad at cancer clinic this last Tuesday. Our boys were playing PS3 together and his son was at the end of treatment. This is the first friend Noah has made at the clinic. He gave me some insight and it was nice to talk to someone who has been through what we are going through. His son was diagnosed the same as Noah, but high risk. So he had double the treatment, twice as long. And he is just fine. It was really nice to see and encouraging.

On another note, we met with the Dream Factory to discuss Noah's wish. It turns out that Legoland is the winner. We are going to shoot for a spring trip. Hopefully this really intense part will be over by then and we can enjoy the trip.

Prayer requests: that we are making the right decision about putting in another port and that it will heal fast and well and be able to stay in for the duration of his treatment. That school will go well and that Noah will not get sick there.

Melissa

1 comment:

  1. Thinking of you in your next round of chemo. You are all so strong, Noah is lucky that he has you as his Mom. Reach out to your friends in getting help, don't feel like you need to do it all right now. Be kind to yourself.

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