Andrew is still in the hospital, but we are hoping to be released tomorrow morning.  Andrew is still feeling low, and more nauseous than usual.  His test results all came back negative which is good, he doesn’t have any frightening infections that need to be treated.  His neutrophil counts are up as well which is fantastic, right now he is just trying to recoup.  The doctor asked if he thought he was ready to go home of if he thought he should stay another night, and Andrew said he thought he needed to stay another night.  This is a huge thing for Andrew to finally admit that he didn’t feel well and voluntarily stay even a minute longer in the hospital than necessary.  He does such a good job putting on the show that he is ok.  We are hoping that he will be back to himself in a couple of days.  Thank you for all the support and words of encouragement.

Andrew was admitted to the hospital Friday night for a high fever and sore throat.  We also found that his neutrophil counts were at zero, this means that he has no immune system and even a cold can seriously harm him.  Earlier in the week he was getting more fatigued and struggling to stay awake in school.  Once in the hospital he was given antibiotics to ensure he did not have an infections.  If everything went well we would have gotten out this morning, however last night he began to get really sick with vomiting and diarrhea.  We are now hoping that he can get better and we can get released tomorrow.  I will update after he is released.

So to summarize this week….Saturday Andrew felt much better and was determined to beat all of Taylor’s scores on the Wii Fit (pictures below sorry for the fuzziness, he was moving fast).  The funniest was when I came in and found him sitting on the board and I asked what he was doing and he said “snowboarding,” I pointed out that don’t you usually stand and he replied, “no, I can’t do it standing so I can sit doing it.” Too funny!  On Sunday we realized that his nose hose was out of this intestine again when he threw up formula so knew we would need to replace it once again.  So Tuesday we went in for his Vincristine chemo, we found out that he droped 2.5 pounds in a week :0(  We are starting a new medication to help digest the food he is eating and hopefully less throwing up.  After we finished with his doctor we went to our family doctor and Andrew was able to reunite with his family doctor, Perry Brown, and update his favorite nurses on his progress.  While were were there I found out that I have a strep infection in my kidneys how does that happen?  I mean really?!  Then we went to pool therapy, which was a first for me.  Andrew was an animal!  I think he did more exercise with more enthusiasim then I ever have.  Then we went back to the hospital for the tube placement.  He really is getting to be a pro at it.  He has had rough mornings, and is more fatigued during the day but other than that he is still smiling through it all. 

Yesterday we had some sad news, a very good friend almost family member, Nadine Stewart was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She has been such an amazing support for Andrew as well as Taylor and myself.  I ask that you please include her in your prayers.  Once again thank you so much for the love and support from all who follows Andrew’s fight against this monster. 

Wii Step Class

Check out his balance!

All by himself, it is wonderful!

So Andrew was released from the hospital around 4 on Wednesday.  He slept from 4:30 until the next morning.  He woke up and said that he felt terrible.  I am really hoping this cocktail wears off quickly.  He did pretty well yesterday, getting around ok, joking around with his sister, and just goofing off.  He only got sick once, and still is nauseous a lot, but not too much to prevent him for doing his regular activities.  He said this morning that this chemo was too hard, and lucky for us, he doesn’t have it for quite a while.  He will have the cocktail he had before for two times before he gets this on again.  He is still an amazing inspiration to me and all those who meet him and the best son I could wish for.

Yesterday was a rough day, in fact probably the hardest since his surgery stay. He was so nauseous he was on the verge of tears most of the day.  He threw up a great deal of this feeding tube and needed to have an xray to ensure it was still in his stomach after we pushed it back in.  Thankfully it was!  Most of the day was spent just miserable trying to sleep.  Towards the end of the day we were able to find a medication that seemed to help, but by that time his feeding tube became plugged.  We attempted to unclog the tube with coke but alas it will not budge.  He will be getting a new tube put in by this afternoon.  He also woke up nauseous this morning and threw a lot of the tube up, so he wanted to remove the “nose hose” (I have documented it below).   He was given some medication to silly him up and he went to work, and I have to admit, he is hilarious on Ativan.  Now he is pretty loopy which is a welcome change. 

Ugh

Throwing up makes nose hose escape

Evil Scientist

Working Hard

Gross!

Almost Out!

A Break from the Nose Hose

Andrew is in the hospital to get his 3rd round of chemo. This round is a kind that he has not had yet, and we are told will cause him to lose his cute long eye lashes, as well as nausea. So far so good, he has not had any negative side effects thus far. He had a visit from his therapy friend, Rocky, a beautiful golden retriever. He visited for about a half an hour while getting his chemo. He was also able to eat some dinner, which we were very excited about. We will update tomorrow with pictures. Thanks for checking.

Andrew had his doctor’s appointment today and great news….he gained two pounds since last week! This is perfect timing since he will be admitted to the hospital for his chemotherapy on Monday. He went swimming at the YMCA with his cousins here visiting from Colorado on Thursday and he had a blast! He was swimming and attacking everyone he could get his hands around. He loved the water slide too. He is really into singing these days, and bursts into song every chance he gets, the silly boy. He is still throwing up almost everyday but keeps his spirits high. He is still on his feeding tube and gets formula about 16 hours a day, and at night he gets more calories by a solution via IV. He made a quick webcast enjoy!