I figured it was time to recap all that is going on with Andrew…because it is confusing for me and I live it with him every day!  So Andrew has completed 6 of 9 chemo sessions on the 6^thof August and released from the hospital on Friday the 7^th.  He was then readmitted to the hospital Monday the 10^th due to increased vomiting and extreme fatigue and was released Friday night.  So he has three chemo sessions to go, and if he does not get ill which could prevent him from doing one of them on time, he will finish the end of November.  He will not be able to go back to public school until January or February if this is the case, but will be attending the St. Luke’s hospital school and getting help from the Boise school district tutor. 

His stomach does not empty or digest, therefore he cannot eat any food by mouth, all it does is cause him to create more acid.  Since his stomach does not empty the only way to drain the acid/bile that is produced is by vomiting.  He can sometimes go one day without vomiting but makes up for it in the following days.   He gets full nutrition through his feeding tube which is placed down in his digestive tract and runs for at least 18 hours a day.  He gets very fatigued very easily and therefore uses a wheelchair whenever we go anywhere in public.  His digestive issues are directly related to the chemo poisoning his GI tract and we are expecting it to correct itself after his treatments are over.  However, from this point on, his health will continue to deteriorate  until he finishes, so we are just pushing to get through it until then. 

He went to the doctor today because he has started getting colon spasms that cause extreme pain in his back/spine area, which the doctor suspects is colitis.  He is getting tested to see if he has a bacterial infection causing it, if there is no infection it is once again due to the chemo and will not resolve until after treatment.   I will update when we learn more about how it will apply to Andrew.  Thank you so much for all the support and love as well as the wonderful notes people are leaving on Andrew’s website, he, Taylor and I read them and appreciate every one of them.

Andrew was released Friday night and he seemed to be doing pretty well considering this was his 6^th treatment and it was a hard one.  Saturday he enjoyed his sisters company now that she is back, but Sunday he hit a wall.  He got really dark circles around his eyes and he was incredibly irritable and spent most of the day in his room and didn’t have the energy to walk around. 

Yesterday morning he would not get out of bed when my cousin came to watch him and he told her he couldn’t do his physical therapy, which is very out of character for him, he loves physical therapy.  By noon he had thrown up three times.  So we took him to the dr. and he got fluids and some anti-nausea medication.  He still looked bad when I left him, but my cousin said he had perked up and the dark circles had gone away.  Alas, when I got home around 6 he was back to the way he was before.  I gave him more meds and he threw up another two times with increasing blood in both.  That was enough for me, we called the dr.  and he told us to go to the ER.  So we spent most of the night there and were admitted to the pediatric wing around 1:00am and finally were able to go to bed around 2:00am.  He woke up this morning gagging and threw up but is looking a little better, less like death, more like really pasty kid.  He gets more chemo today but it shouldn’t affect him too much.  We hope this will be a short stay.

Andrew was admitted for his 6th round of chemo on Tuesday.  The chemo didn’t start until late Tuesday night and finished late Wednesday night.  He did very well yesterday, although he looked miserable he didn’t complain and still tried to enjoy his sister’s company until she gave him a sloppy wet kiss…I was afraid for her life!

Andrew’s last chemo dose was given at midnight last night, and he did not do well.  He has very bad diarrhea which is very unusual for this type of treatment, then he threw up all over himself and his bed around 2:00.  Then when he got up to go to the bathroom again he started speaking incoherently and complaining of a horrible headache.  His nausea lessened around 3 and things calmed down enough to try to sleep around 3:30.  They are testing his stool to make sure he didn’t get any horrible viruses during this treatment, and he is staying because his nausea is still pretty unbearable.  He is finally napping now, and we hope he can get some good catch up sleep for a while today.

We are still in the hospital and just finished meeting with the doctor and the earliest Andrew will be released is tomorrow.

So we have been out of the hospital for a week…YAY!!!  Andrew is not throwing up as much which is great, but yesterday was vomiting blood.  Now that freaked me out.  The doctor thinks it is because he is throwing up so much that he got a tear in his stomach and since his blood counts are low it is not healing.  He is feeling better now that he is taking Rolaids to help coat his tummy. 

On another note, we are asking that some of your prayers go to our family which is going through a heartbreaking crisis.  I have seen the power of prayer from the many people who follow this site, please help use this power to help comfort myself and my family through this trying time.  Thank you again for all the support and following Andrew through this trial in his life.

Andrew is still in the hospital, but we are hopeful he will be released today.  He has a lot of complicated medications and antibiotics he is on and it made sense to stay just a day more until they are complete.  His bowels are still messed up as is the problem with his stomach not emptying, but after all the tests we are sure it is due to the chemo he is receiving and will just need to be endured.  He has had a lot of visitors and fun nurses that helped pass the time, and as you can see from the pictures made him smile. 

Momma and Andrew

Dustin and Andrew

Dustin was only one of many who enjoyed Andrew’s wheelchair when they came to visit. 

Emily and Andrew

Murse Joe and Andrew

Nurse Jim and Andrew

Last night we found out that Andrew has another infection in his blood.  Therefore we are needing to start another round of antibiotics.  His feeding tube was not able to get unclogged with coke or warm water, or even a wire so it was replaced.  We also met with a specialist to discuss his digestive tract issues. The doctor listened to his stomach and bowels and said that they were not moving and that your bowels should always be moving.  He told me about some possibilities of the reasons and that we would be having a lot of blood tests run this morning to figure it out.

So this morning Andrew threw up twice within a matter of hours and it was all that he had eaten two days ago (jr mints, chips, and a popsicle).  After meeting with the dr, it was decided that he is not ready to leave the hospital with the continued vomiting, diarrhea and the infection, and him still not feeling well.  She said that Andrew is not able to digest food in his stomach so we should not be pushing for him to eat anything, and there is a possibility we need to put a tube in his stomach to empty out the acids regularly since it will not empty unless he throws up.  I will update again with I have more news.

Things have finally slowed down enough to update.  So I thought I would go into Andrew’s memory issues he has had this week.  Yesterday he was convinced he was done with his chemo treatments, and for those who know him, you will know he “knows” exactly when he should be done and corrects people all the time.  The Dr and I could not convince him that he was not going to be done until November or December.  That was the most concerning, other little things were like him demanding his sister come home because she is missing school and reprimanding me for “making” him drink orange juice when he requested it and drank it without my input at all. 

He is still in isolation, and unable to leave his room but others can enter his room, they just cannot visit other patients with the risk of spreading something.  His feeding tube has become clogged and we have been trying to clear it since 10 last night to no avail.  So we have not been able to see if his body can handle his feedings.  He was able to eat fruit loops, jr mints and some chips yesterday but is not interested in food or drink today.   He is pretty cranky and tired, but we are hoping it is short lived.  He will be meeting with a specialist today to review his digestive tract issues and we are hoping we are able to figure some of this stuff out.

Andrew had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics he received yesterday which caused some serious issues, and pushed everything back.  Because of his illness he is on quarantine and not able to leave his room and his nurses have to wear gowns every time they enter to ensure they don’t spread anything.  He started getting his blood transfusion at 10:00pm and it went through the night.  He is feeling a little better today but still has diarrhea.   He just got re-accessed for his port and the nurse missed his port with the needle 2 times. 

We just saw the Dr and Andrew will be in the hospital until at least Friday.  He is having memory loss and confusion which we are hoping are related to the antibiotics.  We will try to start back up his feeding tube at a very slow rate tonight and hope he doesn’t react poorly.  We tried to start his feeds twice and he started throwing up immediately so we will see.

Andrew is still in the hospital, so far we have gotten back one test result, the stool, and it came back negative.  He had a very rough night and threw up 5 times yesterday.  We have not seen the doctor yet today, but we are hoping that we find something to help make him feel better.  We will give another update soon.

Andrew went to the Dr on Friday to see if things had improved from Tuesday when we started the IV treatments on top of the tube feedings.  His blood counts had all dropped, and he was still vomiting a lot.  His fatigue has gotten so bad that we had to order a wheelchair for him for whenever he is up for any prolonged period of time.  We tried a new anti-nausea medication which had the opposite effect and let’s just say Friday night was very unpleasant.  Saturday and Sunday went better still vomiting but have now added diarrhea and times of discomfort.  The doctors have decided we need to have him admitted today to try to get him back to a good place.  I will update when I know more.  Thanks for all the comments and fun things people have sent, he loves them!