A Great Day!

Today is day 15 of our 28 day induction phase of chemotherapy. Protocol calls for a CT scan to check progress on day 15 which means this morning starting with an agitated Asher because he couldn’t eat. Like I mentioned in my last update…don’t ever ask a 3 year old on a heavy dose of steroids not to eat. Trust me on that.

Asher actually received his last dose of steroids yesterday morning, thank heavens! He will get them again in other phases of therapy but never at this high dose and frequency. For the first 7-10 days Dave and I didn’t really think the steroids were that bad. Oh gosh, we were all proven wrong on days 11-14. He ate around the clock, and was constantly irritated with us for not knowing exactly what he wanted next. He was eating 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 2 dinners and snacks in between. On the evening of day 12 he was WIDE awake at midnight watching a moving and asking for food. I finally had to turn his movie off and refuse food and hope that he would fall asleep, which he finally did (only to be woken up by a nurse taking vitals at 1am!!) The next morning I politely requested that we discontinue night vitals unless 100% necessary and we got 8 glorious hours of sleep the next night. The steroids also cause facial and belly swelling. We didn’t notice evidence of this until a few days ago. Asher’s sweet cheeks are so puffy and his belly makes him look like a little Buddha. Although, with all the eating I am not sure how much we should really blame on the steroids. The good news is that he is done for now. In the next day or two his appetite will go back to normal and his puffy cheeks will shrink back into his already round 3 year old face.

So, about that CT scan. I am thrilled to say that Asher’s doctor was waiting for us when we got back to the room this morning to give us good news. His chest looks almost 100% normal. He pulled today’s results up along the scan from Halloween day and the difference is astonishing. No signs of the mass, the left side is no longer swollen or filled with fluid and his heart and airway are both along the midline of his chest where they belong. His doctors have been certain throughout his course of treatment that it was working, but I loved being able to see the proof.

Today is a great day, thank God.

I asked Asher if I could take a picture of his face today. This was his response. His little tooshie is pretty cute.

Little round face, eating (surprise, surprise) and hanging out with his sissy.

We got permission to take a field trip off the floor to visit with Katie and Nolan <3 Asher was happy to see them both!

Then he fell asleep while we chatted.