Fever #4

December 29th Update:

Isaac got discharged late afternoon!! No more fevers and blood counts were high! Woo Whoo!

December 28th Update:

Isaac is still in the hospital today but he was without a fever all day. His blood counts were pretty low and is considered neutropenic so we had to give him his "booster shot", as we like to call it, to boost up his counts. Hopefully he'll show  improvement very soon. 

Tonight Nick is staying with him and i got some much needed down time at home. I'll head back over in the morning and if everything goes as planned we will be discharged tomorrow night.

Isaac was really happy when dad got there this afternoon with new toys to play with. A boy can only stay occupied in a hospital bed for so long... 😉

December 27th Update:

Isaac had a pretty good night but has had a fever the majority of the night/day. But once we were able to get some medicine in him a couple hours ago his fever broke. We are hoping he remains fever free the rest of the stay but it's a little too early to tell right now. We don't know much else (virus vs bacteria) but Isaac has been pretty chipper today but also a little sleepy. His mima (Gayle) came up to see him which made him pretty happy. Daddy is also here keeping him company. I am going to stay the night with him again tonight while dad goes home to take care of Georgie (our dog). Then Nick will come back tomorrow and stay on Monday night. We've been told we can go home Tuesday night at the earliest...  So here's to a few more days...

December 26th Update:

Tonight Isaac spiked a fever which landed him in the hospital yet again.  This unfortunately will be his 4th hospital stay due to fevers.😕 This one was a little unexpected though as he wasn't acting sick. In fact it was pretty close to bedtime and he was as happy as can be. However he felt warm to me so i took his temperature and to my surprise it was over his threshold..... so we got to packing for our next 3 day stay at the University of Iowa Hospital. As disappointing and frustrating as this is we do feel blessed that we didn't have to be in the hospital during Christmas. 😉 #alwaysasilverlining #trying2beoptimistic

So I'm staying in the hospital with him tonight and Nick will come in the morning and hopefully stay tomorrow night.  

Poor little guy had to stay up till 11pm until all procedures, vitals, questions, etc were done.  I bet he was tired; hopefully that makes for a smoother night. 😊

Chemo - Week #6

December 23rd Update:

Today we took Isaac to UIHC for his monthly  antibiotic.  We also checked his blood counts thinking that they would probably be too low for chemo this week but to our surprise they were really high today so Isaac got his 6th dose of chemotherapy today!

We walked into the infusion suite and lasting on the bed was a pile of presents for Isaac! He first saw a new Iron Man which he was of course PUMPED about!!  He also received a build a bear and at Tupperware box of misc little toys. What a neat surprise we received today! 😊

Chemo - Week #5

December 17th Update:

Isaac's blood counts were once again just over his target 500 count (@ 510). So we did go ahead and give him another dose of chemo today.  Similar to weeks past he stayed at the 50% dose.  The appointment today was short and sweet, just the way we like them. 😊  We brought a plate of cookies to the University of Iowa nurses as a thank you for being so awesome/as a Merry Christmas gift... Well Mr. Isaac was less than amused to give up those cookies. Let's just say we had a major breakdown, tears and everything. He did not want someone else eating "his" cookies.  He's kind of at that everything is mine stage. Gotta love it. The nurse eventually did open up the cookies and offer Isaac 1 which seemed to make matters a bit better. 😊

Isaac's next chemo appointment will be Wednesday, the 23rd. Hopefully that will be the only trip to the hospital we make this Christmas week.

Chemo - Week #4

December 10th Update:

Isaac's chemo appointment was unusually long today.  It unfortunately took 4 hours when we were expecting only 1!  :-(  Since Isaac's blood counts were just over his threshold they decided to keep his chemo dose at 50% when originally they were going to try boosting it up to 75% dose.  This took over 1 1/2 hours for the pharmacy to change the meds.  So, Nick, Isaac and I ate some cafeteria food for lunch :-)  Despite the unexpectedly long appointment Isaac was a trooper and managed to stay in high spirits the whole time (even with it being nap time).  Go Isaac!

December 9th update:

Isaac's blood counts are good enough today so he'll have his next chemo appt tomorrow (the 10th).  Once again they were just barely over his threshold but as always we will take it! 😉

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 26th Update:

This year we have a LOT to be thankful for. For starters we are thankful we still have our son. Even in the midst of what most would say is an extremely hard situation God has been with us and provided us blessing upon blessing. A lot of the blessings have come from our family and friends that have poured into our lives and waked this scary road with us. Thank you for being with us and for praying for our sweet little boy. Although I would never have wished this on us or anyone else for that matter, we are thankful that we've gone through it as it's strengthened our faith in God and helped us to rely on Him so much more.
We are thankful we were able to get Isaac the greatest medical care in Boston that he needed. We are thankful for all the awesome nurses here in Iowa that care for him during his chemotherapy treatments, blood work, and all those unexpected fever stays. And lastly we are just thankful that God is in control.  Happy Thanksgiving from the Dose family!!!

Chemo - Week #3

December 2nd Update:

Isaac's blood counts were high enough today to keep his chemo appointment tomorrow morning.  However they were still relatively low/just over the threshold so they will most likely keep Isaac's chemo dose at 50% for tomorrow visit.

The past week, Isaac has been doing well and luckily staying healthy.  😊

This coming Saturday Nick, Isaac and I will be participating in the North Scout High School Dance Marathon. We are looking forward to sharing Isaac's amazing story with the Lancer community!