Saturday, December 11, 2010

Well it's been a week since Chemo No. 2...

Well it's been a week since Chemo #2...and what a week it has been. Evan's reaction to this weeks' treatment has been more difficult sooner than expected. At least according to us as parents. His nausea has caused hours of sleepless nights for Zhenya. Hours of laundry and tears for everyone. The saying really is true, when one member of your family has cancer, you all have cancer.
Yesterday, Evan had a check up appointment at the clinic. Scheduled routine appointment; but his numbers came back low.

WBC (White Blood Cells) 0.9 k/uL (Ref. Range should be between 6.0 - 17.5)
RBC (Red Blood Cells) 2.36 M/uL (Ref. Range should be between 3.10 - 4.50)
Hemoglobin 7.2 g/dl (Ref. Range should be between 9.5 - 13.5)

All of this means that he is in his crash period and the low hemoglobin meant that he needed a blood transfusion. It was two ounces over two hours, it doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're as tiny as this little guy two ounces makes a big difference. Last night we had a little bit of a scare after the transfusion. Evan has a sterile window/dressing that covers his central line and the portion of his chest where it extends from. Well the "window" portion filled with blood and looked pretty scary for a while. We had to call the home health care nurse assigned to our case to come over and evaluate his situation. Thank you Jill for coming over last night and putting us at ease. Hope you have had a safe and quiet weekend!!!

Today his color is up, his nausea is down and his mood is much better. We've had a fun day hiding out from the snow and wind. Just enjoying each other and time with Vanya. We pulled out our Christmas decorations last week and he just loves looking at all of the pretty lights. What a precious character <3


 

3 comments:

  1. Awww...the pictures are so cute. I think of you every day. So sorry he (and you!) had such a rough week. Juliana had a transfusion as well. Hope he has a wonderful week. =)

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  2. Hi, my name is Erin and I was just looking at the hopekids website and saw your little one. My son, who is now 6 was diagnosed with Stage IV High Risk neuroblastoma 4 days short of 2 months old. He went through 4 rounds of Chemo and has been in remission for 5 1/2 years now. Prays to your little one, and your family.

    Erin M
    www.caringbridge.org/mn/jasonk.

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