Tuesday, June 23, 2009

A wee bit disjointed.

Frankly, I don't even know where to start, tonight.  Gregory has had a pattern for the last few days of fever in the middle of the night, clear for several hours, fever in the day, clear for a few hours.  While the last few days have been lower fevers, he is still feverish.  We are on day 8 (yes, eight) of fevers.  If there is not an improvement soon, a CT scan is in our future.  Not because there is likely something to be found, but to rule it out.  

Yesterday was a really big day.  His weight is 13.9K.  It is staying there, too.  At least for now.  His "I's & O's" (fluids in/fluids out) have been fairly equal, so no Lasix in the last two days.  Yesterday was:  Platelets, Chest X-Ray, Methotrexate, Red Blood Cells, new Anti-Fungal.  Also the arrival of the Sibs.  He was cranky/irritable/over stimulated.  It was a hard day.  Oh yeah.  Feverish, too.  While it was great to see the Big OffSpring, it adds another layer of stuff.  I'm not ready, yet, to write about it.  Gregory was feeling so yucky yesterday that instead of a bath, we did these warm wipe thingy's.  They are pretty cool. 

Today he was much better.  We fell asleep last night at 11:00 and I slept solid until 5:30 and Gregory slept until about 10:00.  It was awesomesauce.  The only reason I was up at 5:30 was for Gregory's morning weight check.  Once that was done, I settled back in and slept on and off until rounds at 9:00.  Dr Burroughs had to wake me up!!  Man do I feel great today.  Had a shower, too and got my laundry done!  Today was Platelets and a dressing change.  Dressing changes are so tough on him.  So..... today I asked for a pre-dressing change Morphine bolus.  It made the dressing change much easier.  We also switched from those crappy aqua guard things to Press 'n Seal, for covering his dressing while bathing.  While it is not 100% non-irritating, it is far less irritating.  Jess, if you don't already use it, I would highly recommend trying it.

The Big OffSpring had plans today so I did not see them.  Which worked out totally OK.  Gregory has had a chance to rest and build new cells.  We will see them (the sibs) tomorrow for Gregory's birthday. 

Gregory received some awesome stuff, today.  Miss Terri F made Gregory the coolest Buzz Lightyear fleece blanket.  Thank you Terri!!!  Pix to follow, of course.

A grandma to one of Curtis' school mates sent Gregory a box of party blowers and whistles.  Along with finger & Toe puppets.  Yes my dear, I remember you.  Sophia and Curtis have been going to school together since pre-school!!  Thank you, you are one smart cookie.  Perfect timing, too.  I can't remember what it is called, but Gregory has a small spot on one of his lungs that is collapsing.  It's nothing to worry about, yet, but the whistles and blowers could not have been more timely.  He LOVES to blow them and he is getting great theraputic help!!!!

Gregory has been coughing.  Not due to cold/flu.  I believe it is Mucositis and lung issues.  He just said to me, "Mommy, I have a bad case of The Coughs."  Which was endearing in and of itself, except I have not been able to come up with a good birthday present for him, until now.  He will be receiving this tomorrow:  How I Became A Pirate     David Shannon is from Spokane, a Hutton Elementry Alum and is famous for his "No, David! No!" books.  One of our families favorites it A Bad Case Of Stipes, was triggered by Gregory's statment of "A bad case of The Coughs.", which reminded me of the Pirate one, that we do not own.   I also just remembered that he needs his own copy of Horray for Diffendoofer Day.  Whew!!  Birthday taken care of!!  Can you tell I like books?  Can you also see how fragmented my brain is?

An interesting fact I've been meaning to post:  One of the Chemos that Gregory received was Cytoxan.  It is commonly used against breast cancer.  This will hopefully put into perspective the levels of Chemo that he received.  The amount of Cytoxan that Gregory peed out was equal to what a breast cancer patient RECEIVES.  Spooky, huh? 

Mighty Maddy has been admitted.  She attends school with a family that was a Spokane Montessori family.  She is now our next door neighbor.  Yay!!  If any of you have a moment to spare, they could use some good juju rain.  Thank you!

Gregory's Horoscope for his birthday week, courtesy of the infinately awesome Rob:

CANCER (June 21-July 22): "His heart was growing full of broken wings
and artificial flowers," wrote poet Federico Garcia Lorca. "In his mouth,
just one small word was left." There were times during the first half of
June when I was tempted to borrow those words to describe you,
Cancerian. Now, thankfully, you're moving into a much brighter phase. The
buds that are about to bloom in your heart are very much alive, not
artificial, and your wings, while not fully restored to strength, are healing.
Meanwhile, your mouth is even now being replenished with a fresh supply
of many vivid words.



It's time to let the healing begin.  While the road ahead is still rough, I am hopefull that his marrow is on the mend.  If we did not have an intimate relationship with Tenter Hooks before, we sure do now.  Counts can potentially start showing up by Friday.  *crosses fingers*


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