November 4th Update:
Isaac's blood counts were great today! So I'll be taking him to the University of Iowa Hospital tomorrow afternoon at 2 for his next dose of chemo. This is unfortunately right during nap time which is definitely not ideal but I'll count my blessings and be happy that the counts were finally good enough. 😊. You can't win them all.
October 28th Update:
Today Isaac went in like normal for his blood to get checked. Unfortunately his blood counts were too low.... So that means that we will not have chemo tomorrow and instead mom and dad have to give Isaac another dose of his "blood count booster" medicine as an injection tonight 😕. Booo!!
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Fever #3
October 23rd Update:
Isaac is doing well. If he can stay fever-free today then they are going to let us go home tonight!! Woo Whoo!!! We are very happy about that. There's just something about getting to sleep in your own bed! Yesterday, his fever went away 2-3 different times but found a way to creep back up each time. So, we are hoping the fever stays away for good this time.
This hospital stay has been a little harder than the past 2 times. Because Isaac came in with a cough and had the fever the first 2 full days, we are kind of on lock down. With it being cold and flu season the hospital takes precautions a little more seriously. Isaac can't leave his room at all. Even Nick, and I aren't supposed to leave the room unless we change our clothes. So just going to get more water in a common area is a "no no"; we have to ask the nurses to get it for us. :-( So, we are a little stir-crazy in here but are trying to make the most of it.
Thanks for your prayers. We are hoping and praying that his fever does not come back today so that we can in fact go home tonight.
October 22nd Update:
Throughout the night Isaac maintained a103 temp. Nurses came in each hour to get vitals, so neither Isaac or mom had a great night sleep. However, we managed to get little cat naps in between some of the checks. Then this morning at 5am, his fever broke but has since climbed back up to 101.7. 😕.
Overall though Isaac is being such a trooper! He's in slightly better spirits this morning but has just been laying down looking exhausted. But on the bright side all his blood work has come back good and he tested negative for the more common viruses going around. 😀
October 21st Update:
Unfortunately Isaac woke with a fever this morning. So, we are now in the hospital for a minimum of 3 days. :-(
Please keep our little guy in your prayers. Thanks you!
Update on Isaac:
Isaac's fever got up to 103.5 but with some medicine it's now down to 102.7. He's been very sleepy all day long. You can just tell he just doesn't feel well. 😕 .
Isaac is doing well. If he can stay fever-free today then they are going to let us go home tonight!! Woo Whoo!!! We are very happy about that. There's just something about getting to sleep in your own bed! Yesterday, his fever went away 2-3 different times but found a way to creep back up each time. So, we are hoping the fever stays away for good this time.
This hospital stay has been a little harder than the past 2 times. Because Isaac came in with a cough and had the fever the first 2 full days, we are kind of on lock down. With it being cold and flu season the hospital takes precautions a little more seriously. Isaac can't leave his room at all. Even Nick, and I aren't supposed to leave the room unless we change our clothes. So just going to get more water in a common area is a "no no"; we have to ask the nurses to get it for us. :-( So, we are a little stir-crazy in here but are trying to make the most of it.
Thanks for your prayers. We are hoping and praying that his fever does not come back today so that we can in fact go home tonight.
October 22nd Update:
Throughout the night Isaac maintained a103 temp. Nurses came in each hour to get vitals, so neither Isaac or mom had a great night sleep. However, we managed to get little cat naps in between some of the checks. Then this morning at 5am, his fever broke but has since climbed back up to 101.7. 😕.
Overall though Isaac is being such a trooper! He's in slightly better spirits this morning but has just been laying down looking exhausted. But on the bright side all his blood work has come back good and he tested negative for the more common viruses going around. 😀
October 21st Update:
Unfortunately Isaac woke with a fever this morning. So, we are now in the hospital for a minimum of 3 days. :-(
Please keep our little guy in your prayers. Thanks you!
Update on Isaac:
Isaac's fever got up to 103.5 but with some medicine it's now down to 102.7. He's been very sleepy all day long. You can just tell he just doesn't feel well. 😕 .
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Chemo - Cycle 1, Week 2
October 16th Update:
Isaac did great yesterday at Chemo. He has had no negative symptoms. :-) He will continue to get his blood checked twice a week (Mondays and Wednesdays). Depending on the counts, we may have to give additional injections at home (to boost blood counts) but let's keep our fingers crossed his levels remain over 500.
October 15th Update:
Isaac is going in for his next dose of chemo on Thursday, October 15th. This will be his 2nd Week of Cycle 1 of the Maintenance Phase. He got his blood checked on Wednesday and his levels were high enough. :-) Ever since we gave him that 1 injection of meds his blood counts have been a LOT higher than they have been in the past. The medicine clearly helped. We are happy we only had to do the shot the one time last week. :-)
Isaac did great yesterday at Chemo. He has had no negative symptoms. :-) He will continue to get his blood checked twice a week (Mondays and Wednesdays). Depending on the counts, we may have to give additional injections at home (to boost blood counts) but let's keep our fingers crossed his levels remain over 500.
October 15th Update:
Isaac is going in for his next dose of chemo on Thursday, October 15th. This will be his 2nd Week of Cycle 1 of the Maintenance Phase. He got his blood checked on Wednesday and his levels were high enough. :-) Ever since we gave him that 1 injection of meds his blood counts have been a LOT higher than they have been in the past. The medicine clearly helped. We are happy we only had to do the shot the one time last week. :-)
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Chemo - Cycle 1, Week 1
October 10th Update:
Isaac has had no negative side effects from his chemotherapy last week! However, we did get his blood counts checked on Thursday and they were quite low again. So we had to give him the injection I mentioned below that evening. Poor little guy didn't like daddy holding him down while mom gave him a shot in the arm. But I think mom and dad had a harder time with it. It was pretty difficult to have to do that to our son. 😢 so kuddos to all the nurses out there that do the tough jobs for the sake of our kids, it can't be fun for you to poke and prod children all day. Ever since Isaac's diagnosis I have had a much greater respect for nurses - they are AWESOME!
Besides not liking the shot, Isaac has been his normal, happy self. I think he had been wearing himself out playing during the day because he's sleeping like a champ at night. The other day he slept from 8:30pm till 9:30am!! That's a new record for Mr. I Pie. 😀
October 3rd Update:
We should be receiving Isaac's new medicine Monday (Oct 5th). This medicine is to help boost his neutrophil count which has been the reason he hasn't been able to get chemo for the past 2 months. This medicine is in the form of an injection. That means that mom and dad will be playing nurse at home. We'll give him this shot daily until his counts come up. We originally had some issues with insurance causing a delay in getting this medicine but now that we have worked through that, the doctors say we are going to start chemo on Monday. Because he is sensitive to the chemo they are going to give him a 50% dose.
This will be Week 1 of Cycle 1 of the Maintenance Phase. Isaac is scheduled to have 8 total Cycles. Each Cycle consists of 4 weeks ON chemo and then 2 weeks OFF of chemo. That is pending his blood counts though. At the rate he is going, he'll have some "unscheduled" off weeks in between which simply pushed everything back a week. ;-) Prior to this Phase he was in the "Induction Phase".
It's been about 2 months since Isaac has received chemo. I'm not going to lie, it's been kind of nice to have this break. Isaac has enjoyed every minute of it. He continues to be a busy little boy who plays and plays and plays. However, we are ready to get things rolling again. So bring on Monday!
Sept 30th Update:
Isaac's blood counts continue to be lower than we want. They originally said they were close enough to the threshold so they were going to start Isaac on Chemo tomorrow. However, they called back an hour later and said they changed their minds and we are going to wait another week. We are still having some insurance issues with getting this special medicine to boost Isaacs blood counts. 😕
Isaac has had no negative side effects from his chemotherapy last week! However, we did get his blood counts checked on Thursday and they were quite low again. So we had to give him the injection I mentioned below that evening. Poor little guy didn't like daddy holding him down while mom gave him a shot in the arm. But I think mom and dad had a harder time with it. It was pretty difficult to have to do that to our son. 😢 so kuddos to all the nurses out there that do the tough jobs for the sake of our kids, it can't be fun for you to poke and prod children all day. Ever since Isaac's diagnosis I have had a much greater respect for nurses - they are AWESOME!
Besides not liking the shot, Isaac has been his normal, happy self. I think he had been wearing himself out playing during the day because he's sleeping like a champ at night. The other day he slept from 8:30pm till 9:30am!! That's a new record for Mr. I Pie. 😀
October 3rd Update:
We should be receiving Isaac's new medicine Monday (Oct 5th). This medicine is to help boost his neutrophil count which has been the reason he hasn't been able to get chemo for the past 2 months. This medicine is in the form of an injection. That means that mom and dad will be playing nurse at home. We'll give him this shot daily until his counts come up. We originally had some issues with insurance causing a delay in getting this medicine but now that we have worked through that, the doctors say we are going to start chemo on Monday. Because he is sensitive to the chemo they are going to give him a 50% dose.
This will be Week 1 of Cycle 1 of the Maintenance Phase. Isaac is scheduled to have 8 total Cycles. Each Cycle consists of 4 weeks ON chemo and then 2 weeks OFF of chemo. That is pending his blood counts though. At the rate he is going, he'll have some "unscheduled" off weeks in between which simply pushed everything back a week. ;-) Prior to this Phase he was in the "Induction Phase".
It's been about 2 months since Isaac has received chemo. I'm not going to lie, it's been kind of nice to have this break. Isaac has enjoyed every minute of it. He continues to be a busy little boy who plays and plays and plays. However, we are ready to get things rolling again. So bring on Monday!
Sept 30th Update:
Isaac's blood counts continue to be lower than we want. They originally said they were close enough to the threshold so they were going to start Isaac on Chemo tomorrow. However, they called back an hour later and said they changed their minds and we are going to wait another week. We are still having some insurance issues with getting this special medicine to boost Isaacs blood counts. 😕
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Low Blood Counts
September 24th Update:
Isaac's blood counts are still too low to begin Cycle 1 if the Maintenance Phase. 😕This unfortunately has been a reoccurring problem for many many weeks now.
We are going to try out a new medicine to help boost his counts. So we'll keep our fingers crossed and pray for favorable results.
Isaac's blood counts are still too low to begin Cycle 1 if the Maintenance Phase. 😕This unfortunately has been a reoccurring problem for many many weeks now.
We are going to try out a new medicine to help boost his counts. So we'll keep our fingers crossed and pray for favorable results.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Isaac!!!!
BIRTHDAY BOY
Isaac's 2nd birthday was on Labor Day/September 7th. I had bought him donuts for his breakfast but he insisted on eating his normal cereal instead (go figure). ;-) Then, we got dressed. We had bought him a superhero shirt to wear on his birthday and it had been hanging in his closet for a couple weeks. During these weeks he has requested to wear it but we never let him and kept telling him it had to wait for his birthday. So, needless to say he was pretty excited when Mom busted out his new superhero shirt for him to wear!!! :-)
After that we went to the park where he played for quite a long time.
For lunch I took him to Chick-fil-A (Isaac's favorite). He loves "chicka, fry, and pop" (pop meaning lemonade). :-) He took his afternoon nap and when he got up Dad was home from work and so he got to spend time playing with daddy.
For dinner we had invited some of our good friends over for pizza and cupcakes. These friends of ours also just so happen to have kids that are Isaac's age and are his closest buddies. So Isaac was pretty excited for them to come over and play. We even busted out his favorite "Uptown Funk" song and all the kids danced to it; Isaac had a blast!!
Isaac's 2nd birthday was on Labor Day/September 7th. I had bought him donuts for his breakfast but he insisted on eating his normal cereal instead (go figure). ;-) Then, we got dressed. We had bought him a superhero shirt to wear on his birthday and it had been hanging in his closet for a couple weeks. During these weeks he has requested to wear it but we never let him and kept telling him it had to wait for his birthday. So, needless to say he was pretty excited when Mom busted out his new superhero shirt for him to wear!!! :-)
After that we went to the park where he played for quite a long time.
For lunch I took him to Chick-fil-A (Isaac's favorite). He loves "chicka, fry, and pop" (pop meaning lemonade). :-) He took his afternoon nap and when he got up Dad was home from work and so he got to spend time playing with daddy.
For dinner we had invited some of our good friends over for pizza and cupcakes. These friends of ours also just so happen to have kids that are Isaac's age and are his closest buddies. So Isaac was pretty excited for them to come over and play. We even busted out his favorite "Uptown Funk" song and all the kids danced to it; Isaac had a blast!!
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Chemo Week 13
September 10th Update:
Once again Isaac's blood counts are too low for chemo this week. :-( This makes 3 weeks in a row that he has missed due to low blood counts and this makes 5 weeks in a row that he hasn't had chemo (the first 2 weeks were "scheduled breaks"). Isaac's oncologists think he is more sensitive to the chemotherapy than perhaps other children receiving the same regiment. Never-the-less, Isaac continues to act normal and it has not slowed him done at all. :-)
September 3rd Update:
Unfortunately Isaac's blood counts have been rather low for a few weeks now. :-( Last week he was supposed to start back up with his chemotherapy regiment. However, they were too low then too. Prior to that he had a scheduled 2 weeks off. So as of today he has had 1 whole month off! You would think that would be enough time to get those blood counts up and running but apparently now. ;-) But luckily he is still remaining healthy while at home.
Although we aren't going to our chemo appt anymore today I still am taking him to the Hospital so he can get his antibiotics (which are overdue now). This will be Isaac's last appt as a 1 year old. This coming Monday Isaac turns 2!!! :-)
Once again Isaac's blood counts are too low for chemo this week. :-( This makes 3 weeks in a row that he has missed due to low blood counts and this makes 5 weeks in a row that he hasn't had chemo (the first 2 weeks were "scheduled breaks"). Isaac's oncologists think he is more sensitive to the chemotherapy than perhaps other children receiving the same regiment. Never-the-less, Isaac continues to act normal and it has not slowed him done at all. :-)
September 3rd Update:
Unfortunately Isaac's blood counts have been rather low for a few weeks now. :-( Last week he was supposed to start back up with his chemotherapy regiment. However, they were too low then too. Prior to that he had a scheduled 2 weeks off. So as of today he has had 1 whole month off! You would think that would be enough time to get those blood counts up and running but apparently now. ;-) But luckily he is still remaining healthy while at home.
Although we aren't going to our chemo appt anymore today I still am taking him to the Hospital so he can get his antibiotics (which are overdue now). This will be Isaac's last appt as a 1 year old. This coming Monday Isaac turns 2!!! :-)
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