A few days
ago Chase had what looked to be an ingrown hair on his leg. It didn’t seem like
a big deal and then the next morning it swelled up huge, but he still never
spiked a fever. We called Brad, his nurse, and he ordered labs to be drawn in
Kearney. 2:00 that day we went in and they gave us Keflex to fight the
infection. It turned out to be an infected hair follicle. They said this can
happen since his counts are so low. He has finished taking the antibiotic and
everything seems to be all healed up.
We went in
for Chase’s 3rd treatment on Wednesday March 2nd. He is
recovering well. He got labs drawn and a pulmonary function test run that
morning to see how his breathing is doing. We met with the doctor prior to
starting the 3rd round. She was explaining to us that Chase’s white
blood cell count is very low making him susceptible to infection since his
immune system is down. Also, she explained it is very hard to compare his first
pulmonary function test to the one that was taken that day because they were
done differently and at 2
different places so they will be using this test as
their base.
Side note:
he needs this test because the bleomycin can have extreme side effects on the
lungs if they are not careful. If these tests come back fine, they will know
that he is okay to proceed with the original treatment plan, if not they can
switch the bleomycin to a different medicine.
Also, we
thought this treatment meant we were half way because they said he needed 6
cycles. What we learned while we were there this past appointment was that by
cycle they mean 2 treatments per cycle. In actuality he has 12 treatments. How
it works is there are a day 1 and a day 15 of each cycle. Day 1 of each cycle will
be a little longer because he will always have a pulmonary function test done.
He will not get a CT scan done until after 3 cycles and a PET scan done after 6
cycles. By then we will know if he needs 2 more cycles and/or radiation. So for
now chase has completed cycle 2 day 1.
Hopefully only 9 more to go! He can do this!
The best
part of the doctor’s appointment with Cathy was that she could not find any
visible tumors!!!! That is proof that the treatment is working. J
After that chase got the normal treatment and that went smooth. We had Susan as
our Nurse and she was so nice. We are so grateful to all the nurses that spoil
us while we’re there! Everyone is so kind. People who have to deal with cancer
daily definitely have a different perspective on life. We are
so blessed.
Next treatment is scheduled for Thursday, March 17 at 9am
with Dr. Vose at Village Point Cancer Center.
Thank you father for
my saving my amazing husband! I appreciate every day I get to have with him.
Thank you to everyone
for your continued support,
Danielle Eilers
