Ten-Year-Old Boy Thing

5/14/2012: 11:43 PM

We ended up getting Davis' CBC on Tuesday. I took him to our local pediatrician's office because he itched all over and had no rash. Apparently, unexplained itching can be a result of a liver malfunction. Since there was no rash and no new allergy explanation, it was important to rule this out. The pediatrician's office and Davis' St. Louis oncology team discussed it over the phone and thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and get a CBC and CMP to see what was going on. The results came back later that day. While his liver levels were high for a normal child, they were acceptable for a child who is pumping chemo into his system on a daily basis. The onc nurse did say that his uric acid levels were high, and the team would discuss it and speak to me about it on Friday. In the meanwhile, Davis was to continue taking allergy pills and use Sarna lotion for the itch.

The itch still continues. The hem/onc doctors don't have any answers and are confident that it has nothing to do with liver or kidney function. The next step is to see a dermatologist.

Davis'  CBC looked great. His counts are relatively high . . .well, higher than we are used to seeing them. His ANC (immune system count) was 2600, and anything over 1500 is considered healthy. Yay!  with this news and the way he has been feeling, Davis has been taking a bit more risk. He is going out in public and attending school with no mask. Davis is far more protective of himself and the doctors and we are (at times), and I know that he continued to wear a mask long after we didn't ask him to anymore. He still continues good hand washing, but I haven't wiped down his school desk and chair in a couple of weeks. Baby steps to normal, I guess.

chemo time with Kathy

Breathing treatment went faster this time.
The deeper the breaths you take, the faster it goes.

Friday's chemo was pretty quick. Davis was accessed and received his Vincristine in record time. We had to wait a bit for the reverse air flow room so Davis could do his breathing treatment. We had quite a wait on his oral chemo and side effects meds at the pharmacy (The pharmacy staff are so kind, but terribly slow, but I bet messing up meds like chemo could be horrific.), so we headed over to The Hill and found a quaint patio restaurant to fill our empty bellies. Davis has been eating uncontrollably lately. I think it is a ten-year-old boy thing. He ordered two entrees and ate my salad. I couldn't help but think that six months earlier we were talking about a feeding tube.

Entree #1 at Favasso's

In June, Davis will have finished his first of eleven rounds of this chemo phase. This phase is made up of eleven three-months rounds.  So let the count down begin. In June, we can safely say we only have 30 months of chemo left!  It sounds better than saying that we still have 2 1/2 full years of chemo left.

In other news, Annakate was honored at the Children's Art Exhibit at Tarble Art Center on Saturday. We are so proud of her. And Mother's Day was pretty peaceful. I spent the entire day with my babies.

The name of the piece?  Tie Dye Henna

Oh, I nearly forgot. Davis had a band concert on Thursday evening. There was quite a chaotic meltdown thirty minutes before performance time. Davis had misplaced his sticks (he plays percussion). Actually, he had misplaced them several days earlier. He decided thirty minutes before that he needed to find them because as he put it, "I can't play without them. No other sticks fit me." It sounded absurd to me, but I have long given up trying to reason with a near-hysteric child. He had resolved to the idea that if he didn't find the sticks, he couldn't play the concert. After turning the house upside down, coaxing him into the car, looking in his classroom, enlisting the help of the band teacher, rummaging through every drawer in the band room, the sticks were found with minutes to spare. Catastrophe averted. My nerves were shot, but nothing like an amazing band concert to right my flustered thoughts. I am not being biased here when I pass along kudos to Ginger Stanfield for turning those little kids into sheer geniuses with instruments.

Davis playing timpani

This week proves to be a busy one. Ball games. Taekwondo belt testing. Talent shows. School picnics. Retirement luncheon. And of course, my Oakland kids are graduating. We are so thankful and grateful for slow recovery of Davis' health and our old lives. Although the journey continues, I often look back over the last several months and question how we have survived all of this. Well, we know how. . . I have never really hated anything or anyone in my entire life. Truly. But I HATE cancer. I don't hate the blessings and the learning that has come from it, but the cancer itself - I hate it.

See those red sticks?  Those are the ones.
Boy and sticks have been reunited.
All smiles.

I can't remember what my last update on Cory was, and so many of you ask because I know you are thinking of him and praying for him. He underwent a lung biopsy last week. The results aren't back yet. His bone marrow is cancer-free. Yay! He starts some pretty nasty chemo this week, so please pray and pass along a positive thought for him.

We still pray every day against infections, long term side effects, organ damage, secondary cancers, and relapse. I have really picked up the prayers for Davis' safety. Now that his health and energy levels are beginning to return, he is far more rambunctious. He acts like . . . like. . . well, a ten-year-old boy. He hurt himself on the trampoline on Saturday. It looked nasty. His response, "Ahh, I'm just checkin' out my platelets." Bruises are something we can live with. An injury to his port, we cannot. I just ask that God keeps Davis safe, so he can continue being a ten-year-old boy.
We will keep you posted.