RSV

That's right, Carter has RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus).  It's not a huge deal and it gives the doctors a reason for the fever he had on Friday.  His lungs sound so much better already and his coughing has subsided quite a bit.  They are still doing more tests, a few other viruses and also some liver related stuff since his liver function numbers came up again today.  Also, he's neutropenic today, meaning his ANC is below 500.  He took his oral medication last night but they are once again going to hold that for a few days.  The good news is that his blood culture is still clear after 48+ hours!!  So as long as there's no more fever, the cultures stay clear, and he continues to do well, we might get to come home tomorrow.  I'm trying not to get my hopes up but... they're up.  He's been having a blast playing the Toy Story 3 game on the xbox.  He's been laughing so hard and been in a great mood all day.  Now we're hoping for a great night sleep and a great day tomorrow.

and you thought we were done with hospital admissions....

Yesterday around lunch time, Carter started feeling really sick.  He laid on the couch for about an hour then threw up.  I took his temp and it was 101.5.  So we packed up and headed to the hospital.  I was amazed at how fast he went down hill.  He's eaten a good breakfast in the morning, we'd gone for a bike ride, and all of a sudden he felt awful.  By the time we got in the clinic, his temp was up to 102.1 and he looked and felt really bad.  His ANC was 900 which is a little low considering he'd just finished 5 days of steroids.  His blood pressure was high, his pulse rate was high, and he was breathing fast.  They gave him fluids, antibiotics, and tylenol.  About 3 or 4 hours later he was feeling better but still had a fever.  They took a chest x-ray since he's got a nasty cough and his lungs are a little crackly - it looked fine.  Once they got the chemistry report back from his blood sample the numbers were considerably higher than they were just last week when we were in clinic.  It could be caused from a virus or maybe from his oral medication.  For the time being, he's not taking any oral meds.  He'll start back on them in a week or so.  He's been doing much better today.  No fever and in good spirits, all good signs.  So far his blood culture is clean and he's been without fever for more than 24 hours.  The doctors will probably keep him here until Monday or Tuesday just to keep an eye on him and make sure he keeps getting better.  It's harder than I thought it would be being back here in the inpatient unit.  But here we are and in isolation.  Thankfully, there's an xbox that can be brought in his room, lots of movies, and the Children's Cancer Association even rents out musical instruments to the kids here so he's got a keyboard to play with too.  The nurse's button is always close by and he's got them constantly bringing chocolate milk, string cheese, and gogurts.

February clinic visit

Last Thursday was Carter's monthly clinic visit.  Everything went very smoothly, even with all three kids there with me!  His counts look very similar to last month's:  White blood cells 1000, ANC 600, Hemoglobin 11 and platelets 190,000.  His ANC is still a little lower than they want it to be so they may change his dosage a little next month.  But for now, we just keep on truckin.  He still has bad days every now and then, still gets sick some mornings, but for the most part, he's doing really well.  This last week was rough, but he seems to be doing better now.  On a side note, he's started medicine for asthma.  So far it seems to be helping quite a bit.  Poor kid has so many medicines going on! 

Another fever

Carter woke up yesterday with a fever.  He wouldn't even get out of bed, he just cried and yelled for me until I came and got him.  He was feeling miserable.  I called the hospital to tell them we were coming in and they said to pack an overnight bag just in case since last week his ANC was only 600.  If it was below 500 now, he would be admitted.  I gave him some oxicodone for his headache and by the time we got to the hospital he was feeling much better.   His fever was gone, of course.  We got his counts and his ANC was 9200!  It could be because he just finished 5 days of steroids or it could be because his body is trying to fight off something or it could be a combination of the two.  So when the doctor checked him out, everything was fine and normal except his heart rate was too high.  That could be another sign of infection.  He put him on IV fluids for almost two hours as well as gave him an antibiotic.  His heart rate came down a little but still not normal.  They told me the dose of antibiotics would start wearing off at about 10:00 this morning so just watch him closely for another fever or any other signs of illness.  So far today he's been totally fine.  I hope he's over the worst of it.  I'm worried because his little brother has been pretty sick for about 5 days, fever on and off.  I hope Carter won't go through the same thing.

Clinic visit Jan 2012

 His hair is starting to get curly again!

Carter's clinic visit yesterday went great!  White blood cell count is 1400 and ANC is 600.  That's a little lower than they want it to be.  We'll keep the doses the same for another month and then see what is looks like then.  Hemoglobin is 10.5 and platelets 274,000. which are both really good.  He did awesome the whole time.  He was actually really excited to go to the hospital this time to play in the play room with his brother.  He didn't have a sedation and the chemo he got only takes about 10 minutes to infuse.  It was a good day.  Our prescriptions were even ready and waiting for us when we got to the pharmacy so we missed rush hour traffic coming home!  What a difference a year has made!

Dollar Tree Make-A-Wish meeting

 

 We were invited by the Make-A-Wish Foundation to attend a Dollar Tree meeting yesterday.  Every year, Dollar Tree raises enough money through several fundraisers to sponsor a wish.  They had us go and talk about what our family has been through and about our wish trip.  It was a really cool experience!  I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the generosity and kindness of these people.  We were sent on that trip only because of countless donations from people we've never met.  It was awesome to meet some people who worked so hard to make wishes come true for kids like Carter.  So there is now a plaque with Carter's name and picture hanging up in the Dollar Tree regional distribution center.  They had two big Spiderman cakes and two huge gift bags full of gifts for Carter.  It was really great and I'm so glad we had that opportunity. 

 

 Carter's gifts

 

 

Everyone LOVED Carter.  Of course.  While we were up there talking he was running in circles around us and holding our hands and swinging like a monkey.  He really put on a good show for them :)

'Tis the season to get fevers

Carter got another fever last week.  Remember the days when a child with a fever just meant give em some tylenol and put them to bed early?  2 more years (and a few months) and that will be our life again, but for now a fever means to the hospital we go.  He has a slight ear infection and is now on some antibiotics.  We picked up the prescription here in town instead of at the hospital and the pharmacist was so nice and concerned.  We've picked up a few of his chemo meds there before so they were on his record.  He was sure to tell me that amoxicillin can raise the levels of one of his other meds in his blood.  He called Carter's oncologist just to make sure that he was aware of that (of course he was but I was still impressed that he went to such lengths to care for my son). 

Hopefully we don't need to make any more trips down there until his next scheduled appointment.