First scans and In Patient Chemo
We went in last Monday for scans and to start the first in-patient chemo. We started early at 7:30 am on Monday and Dan and Logan got home Friday evening. It was a long week but it definitely went better than we could have hoped.
The results from Logan's scans were better than we could have hoped for. I have been praying so hard that his scans would be really good, not just okay, and just felt a lot of confidence that they would be...and they were. So many others are praying for the same thing that there is just so much power going on here. I cannot deny the feelings I have felt. This experience has increased my faith in the power of prayer, fasting, and just the way God's power works. "Experiment upon the word" has a much more real power and meaning to me. I have always believed that prayer works because I have had lots of experiences with it, but this situation has taken it to a whole new level. The more we practice praying for things and trying to keep ourselves prepared to receive inspiration (quiet inspiration, not visions), the more obvious God's presence is. The less we do those things, the crazier it seems that a God even exists. It seems clear to me how people can have such differing views on religion. It doesn't take much to go from being a believer to being a strong opponent of God. Feelings can change so quickly when we cut God out, even for a short time. This has become so crystal clear to me that I have no choice but to be forever grateful for this trial. Things like this drop you to your knees and force you to form a better relationship with God. I wish I prayed with such fervor every day. Life would be so much easier to bear. It is crazy what a dramatic swing, in our perceptions of God, can take place with just a few small choices we make. It's rarely big things, just little every day things. This is something I have learned that I hope I never forget. Also, I have learned that having faith enough for miracles is hard, and takes lots of effort. I haven't googled at all during this whole process, but the other day I was curious about something and just googled and glanced at the results. I had instant fear and anxiety wash over me. I didn't even click on anything and it had such power over me. I immediately stopped and asked for the peace to come back. Lesson learned. When you are completely relying on God to perform miracles for you, no information on the internet matters. When we listen to the doctors and just rely on the impressions and feelings we get, this is all bearable, even okay. When we take matters into our own hands and try to decipher the chances of things, everything goes down hill fast. Trusting my feelings and impressions has become a very important exercise for me. They are proving to be much more trustworthy than anything I could read about.
Anyway, back to the scans. The doc said they were better than they could have ever expected. One of the spots on his lungs is completely gone and the other one shrunk dramatically. His kidney tumor basically shrunk in half. It was 10 inches at its largest point...yeah, that's really big to have inside a 7 year old boy. His tummy is so much smaller and the artery that was being pushed over into a bent position, causing high blood pressure, is totally straight just like it should be. They were worried about his liver being affected. The kidney tumor has pulled completely away from the liver and it has not been affected at all. Miraculous....yes, yes it is. Needless to say, we and the doc were beyond excited about the scans. There is some of the tumor that is still inside of one of the vessels going out of the kidney. They are hoping that will retract out of the vessel with this next round of chemo. If is doesn't they will have to remove it surgically. So, our next round of prayers are going out for that to retract...hint hint... Don't stop praying for us. The comfort and lack of anxiety we feel can only be explained through divine intervention. So, thank you all.
Chemo went awesome!! Dan and Logan stayed in the hospital for 5 days. Logan had some chemo every day. There was just one hitch in the treatment. They told me one of the less common side effects was an allergic reaction to one of the drugs. About 5 minutes after it started going in, Logan said he felt funny and I looked over and his face looked weird. He looked pale and then puffy in certain areas so that he kind of looked like an old man. Then, he started gasping for air. Dan and I both ran out to the hallway, he, much more calm than myself. Logan was crying at this point and really scared. I looked back at him as I was in the hall and his face was cherry red and puffy and he looked terrified. We told them to hurry and they ran in and stopped the flow of the medicine. He started to look better almost immediately. So, that was frightening. Luckily, they gave him benadryl and steroids and started the meds back up again and it worked. If that had not worked, he would have had to go to the PICU for desensitizing...apparently, that is not fun at all, so we are so grateful!! So, they pre-dosed him with benadryl and steroids each day and he was fine. We kept him dosed with zofran for nausea and he didn't throw up once. He ate like a champ and actually gained weight. He had to go to the bathroom every few hours because they were pumping him full of fluids. The meds are hard on his bladder so they have to really keep the water flowing. Aside from some grumpiness from being so tired, he really did amazing. He took advantage of the playroom and the crafts they have there. He actually loves the hospital. Dan was a trooper and stayed all 5 days. We determined the fun parent should be at the hospital with the kid who loves fun. Next time I will take a day or two. Dan was pretty worn out from doing crafts and playing games I think. But, he didn't complain for one second. We were very grateful to get them home on Friday. Now, I get to give Logan a shot every day this week to help get his counts up quicker. They drop a little lower with this chemo. Luckily i gave myself heparin shots during my pregnancy with Logan so I wasn't too scared about giving them to him. I never would have thought I could do this, but I am and it is going well. Logan has had so much energy and such an appetite that we are just so grateful. So, there you go. Things are going very well. We have our Monday chemo in a few hours and then next Monday's chemo. Then, we will start his next in-patient chemo on Thursday so that Dan doesn't have to take so many days off work. We are going to enjoy the next couple of weeks off.
They did an animal show and he was in heaven!! This is one reason why PCMC is amazing!
The results from Logan's scans were better than we could have hoped for. I have been praying so hard that his scans would be really good, not just okay, and just felt a lot of confidence that they would be...and they were. So many others are praying for the same thing that there is just so much power going on here. I cannot deny the feelings I have felt. This experience has increased my faith in the power of prayer, fasting, and just the way God's power works. "Experiment upon the word" has a much more real power and meaning to me. I have always believed that prayer works because I have had lots of experiences with it, but this situation has taken it to a whole new level. The more we practice praying for things and trying to keep ourselves prepared to receive inspiration (quiet inspiration, not visions), the more obvious God's presence is. The less we do those things, the crazier it seems that a God even exists. It seems clear to me how people can have such differing views on religion. It doesn't take much to go from being a believer to being a strong opponent of God. Feelings can change so quickly when we cut God out, even for a short time. This has become so crystal clear to me that I have no choice but to be forever grateful for this trial. Things like this drop you to your knees and force you to form a better relationship with God. I wish I prayed with such fervor every day. Life would be so much easier to bear. It is crazy what a dramatic swing, in our perceptions of God, can take place with just a few small choices we make. It's rarely big things, just little every day things. This is something I have learned that I hope I never forget. Also, I have learned that having faith enough for miracles is hard, and takes lots of effort. I haven't googled at all during this whole process, but the other day I was curious about something and just googled and glanced at the results. I had instant fear and anxiety wash over me. I didn't even click on anything and it had such power over me. I immediately stopped and asked for the peace to come back. Lesson learned. When you are completely relying on God to perform miracles for you, no information on the internet matters. When we listen to the doctors and just rely on the impressions and feelings we get, this is all bearable, even okay. When we take matters into our own hands and try to decipher the chances of things, everything goes down hill fast. Trusting my feelings and impressions has become a very important exercise for me. They are proving to be much more trustworthy than anything I could read about.
Anyway, back to the scans. The doc said they were better than they could have ever expected. One of the spots on his lungs is completely gone and the other one shrunk dramatically. His kidney tumor basically shrunk in half. It was 10 inches at its largest point...yeah, that's really big to have inside a 7 year old boy. His tummy is so much smaller and the artery that was being pushed over into a bent position, causing high blood pressure, is totally straight just like it should be. They were worried about his liver being affected. The kidney tumor has pulled completely away from the liver and it has not been affected at all. Miraculous....yes, yes it is. Needless to say, we and the doc were beyond excited about the scans. There is some of the tumor that is still inside of one of the vessels going out of the kidney. They are hoping that will retract out of the vessel with this next round of chemo. If is doesn't they will have to remove it surgically. So, our next round of prayers are going out for that to retract...hint hint... Don't stop praying for us. The comfort and lack of anxiety we feel can only be explained through divine intervention. So, thank you all.
Chemo went awesome!! Dan and Logan stayed in the hospital for 5 days. Logan had some chemo every day. There was just one hitch in the treatment. They told me one of the less common side effects was an allergic reaction to one of the drugs. About 5 minutes after it started going in, Logan said he felt funny and I looked over and his face looked weird. He looked pale and then puffy in certain areas so that he kind of looked like an old man. Then, he started gasping for air. Dan and I both ran out to the hallway, he, much more calm than myself. Logan was crying at this point and really scared. I looked back at him as I was in the hall and his face was cherry red and puffy and he looked terrified. We told them to hurry and they ran in and stopped the flow of the medicine. He started to look better almost immediately. So, that was frightening. Luckily, they gave him benadryl and steroids and started the meds back up again and it worked. If that had not worked, he would have had to go to the PICU for desensitizing...apparently, that is not fun at all, so we are so grateful!! So, they pre-dosed him with benadryl and steroids each day and he was fine. We kept him dosed with zofran for nausea and he didn't throw up once. He ate like a champ and actually gained weight. He had to go to the bathroom every few hours because they were pumping him full of fluids. The meds are hard on his bladder so they have to really keep the water flowing. Aside from some grumpiness from being so tired, he really did amazing. He took advantage of the playroom and the crafts they have there. He actually loves the hospital. Dan was a trooper and stayed all 5 days. We determined the fun parent should be at the hospital with the kid who loves fun. Next time I will take a day or two. Dan was pretty worn out from doing crafts and playing games I think. But, he didn't complain for one second. We were very grateful to get them home on Friday. Now, I get to give Logan a shot every day this week to help get his counts up quicker. They drop a little lower with this chemo. Luckily i gave myself heparin shots during my pregnancy with Logan so I wasn't too scared about giving them to him. I never would have thought I could do this, but I am and it is going well. Logan has had so much energy and such an appetite that we are just so grateful. So, there you go. Things are going very well. We have our Monday chemo in a few hours and then next Monday's chemo. Then, we will start his next in-patient chemo on Thursday so that Dan doesn't have to take so many days off work. We are going to enjoy the next couple of weeks off.
Loving the legos at the hospital. They have been a great past time.
They have all sorts of crafts hanging on the wall and they can do an of them. He loves crafts so he really took advantage of that.
Jolie, half dabbing with Spidey. She just did this when I told her to smile. I love this girl!
Jolie wanted to have braids like mom when I headed to girl's camp so Aunt Natalie obliged.
Yet another use for the puke bags. I love these cute brothers.
Bras: they are just so fascinating!
Logan refused to order his food at the beginning of this process, now he orders in accents. I believe he order his next meal with a British accent. He is so naturally confident, I love it!
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