Back to Treatment

We just finished up a glorious 2 weeks at home with Asher. It didn’t take long for him to adjust to being out of the hospital. He likes sleeping in his own bed and loves being able to play with Charlotte whenever he wants. I think he misses being able to order whatever food he is craving any time of the day. Some of his new favorite snacks include string cheese, large green olives and cottage cheese. I guess the chemo is really making him crave salty foods. He ate a plain waffle and 3 olives for breakfast a few mornings ago. Sound yummy to anyone else?

Dave and I became proficient at flushing his PICC line twice a day and the home care nurses visited regularly for various reasons, but other than that we relaxed as much as possible. We put up the Christmas tree and Freddie the elf is back in action. Oh, and we were able to find out as a family that our newest edition will be another little girl. Yay for Felicity Grace <3

We arrived back at Children’s this morning for a clinic visit, surgery to place a port, and more chemo. Blech, it’s been a long day but Asher did really well. He wasn’t allowed to eat until after surgery, which ended up starting at 3:50pm. Keeping him distracted was easy until about 1pm. By 2:30 he fell asleep on my lap and stayed out until they were ready to take him in – thank goodness! So, instead of having something dangling out of him arm that can’t get wet he has a small port that looks like a lump on the right side of his chest. As long as they aren’t “plugged in” and using the port he can get baths and go swimming because it is totally covered by skin. It’s kind of weird, but a good alternative for the long term. Again we were told that he would be sore when he woke up…and nothing. He must seriously have high pain tolerance because he hasn’t needed pain meds. He said “what’s this?” and pointed to it. We told him it was a new spot to get medicine and pointed out that his PICC was gone. He said “okay, can I watch Bubble Guppies?” Ha. He also impressed all of the nurses by swallowing his first oral dose of chemo in pill form. We had practiced swallowing whole M&Ms with the child life specialists during our last inpatient stay and he did well so we gave the pill a try tonight (knowing that the liquid tastes really bad). He put in in his mouth and grabbed his Gatorade and just swallowed. Everyone jumped and cheered and gave him high fives…and he looked at us like we were nuts. He must have been thinking “Are you kidding me? That wasn’t hard.” Anyhow, looks like pill swallowing will not be an issue.

It’s midnight and we just finished chemo and he is finally settling down to sleep. I am so very happy we go home tomorrow. One night doesn’t seem too bad.



A little fun in the snow

It's another girl!!

Rockin' his new port and some chocolate pudding

Home!!

We’re home!!! Asher was had a lumbar puncture and bone marrow aspirate performed yesterday morning. The results look great as expected. After a visit from the home health nurse, a pharmacist and his care manager we were FINALLY released around 4:30pm. We arrived home to a beautifully decorated yard and Mr. Redlegs. Asher was very excited to be home and then quickly became shy.

We had a great first night home as a family! Thank you for all of the continued support <3

All dressed and waiting to break out.