Loki's CT scans of his chest, pelvis, and abdomin from Friday have come back CLEAR!!!! No evidence of any cancer. We found out this morning.
A big sigh of relief on our part, as he has been pointing to his pelvis and legs and saying "Owie" for a couple of weeks now. So, either its growing pains or neupogen. His legs were not actually scanned Friday but they will be shortly, as he has full body scans and bone scans as part of his off treatment assessment in June.
Loki was supposed to have his second to last chemotherapy treatment this weekend, but that did not happen. Friday Loki went in for counts and he was severly neutropenic with a White blood cell count of 390, and not enough cells to determine a neutrophil count (the ones the doc's measure). In addition, his platelet count was 45,000, the docs transfuse around 20,000. So, we were asked to bring him in on Monday, for admission Monday night for chemotherapy (overnight). Therefore, Mother's Day weekend was spent at home away from the public to avoid Loki getting sick.
****************************************************
Well, last night, the little man spike a small fever, SO no chemotherapy today. Instead, he had a blood culture drawn and IV antibiotics, but no required hospitalization. His counts were better, he is no longer neutropenic, BUT his platelets are still on the low side at 97,000 but no longer in the range for possible transfusion, and once they begin to go up, they usually continue to go up.
It is possible that Loki's bacterial infection MAY still be present in his line, or a new one has begun, hence, the blood culture. If that culture comes back positive, into the hospital he goes. I am not sure if they will suggest IV antibiotics or to have the line replaced. Probably both, but I am hoping that is not the case.
If the cultures don't grow anything, then Thursday he is to come back in for counts, and chemotherapy Thursday to Friday. The cancer Relay for Life is Friday night, and we intend to attend opening ceremonies, and Sunday is my graduation ceremony, and I was hoping for Loki and Peter to be there....or maybe at least Peter, as Loki is definitely getting to be close to 2 years old....temper tanturms galore.
Well, Loki had a wonderful weekend. Friday, we went to our friend Matt's place, and saw an old black and white pirate movie. Loki decided it would be fun to jump on Matt's couch, and jumped head first into a speaker stack. He has one big goose egg, with lots of bruising. OUCHIE, OUCHIE.
Then, we all went to a Cinco de Mayo party on Sat night at Brian and Anu's place. The entire family had a blast. Loki had fun dipping chips in the hottest salsa, and well, handing them to me.....did I mention "heatburn" was a frequent companion of mine for the next 24 hours.
Loki is talking so much! And, he keeps asking for "fishes, Nemo now". He wants to watch finding Nemo OVER AND OVER AND OVER. Also, "walk, mommy, walk" is a big one, meaning, I want to go outside, let's do something, or I am bored, let me out of this hospital room.
Loki counts today were great, his platelets are still getting lower though, so the doctors would like him to come in on Friday for counts. He had his vincristine dose today, and after some confusion on scheduling, we headed home.
Loki goes back to his daycare provider Karen tomorrow, for the first time since the beginning of April. The whole bacterial infection in his line, really was not fun. I hope everything goes well, ie. he doesn't cry too much, and he can get back on schedule.
Well, turns out Loki has a CT scan scheduled for this Friday!!! SO, we will be finding out the status his treatment to date a lot sooner than we were expecting. Loki only has 6 weeks of treatment left with only two (yes, folks 2) chemo sessions left. We were expecting scans at the end of this time period. So, this comes as a surprise to us. Please pray everyone for continued clear scans.
Loki is to be admitted this weekend, for overnight chemotherapy after his scans. Then, a two week break and then his final chemo session, 5 days of chemotherapy. Depending on the outcome of the scans, it will be three more months until he receives a CT scan, he will be in what is called maintanence.
I would be silly if I didn't say we are extremely nervous about these scans on Friday. We are expecting them to show a continued all clear, as he is up and running around and being a toddler, but we are nervous none-the-less. We will know by early next week, if not over the weekend, if the scans are read right away on Friday. Otherwise, we may not find out until late Monday or Tuesday. I will let you all know as soon as we know.
Alicia
