Clinic

Yesterday was Eric's follow up at clinic (aka Oncology and Hematology Outpatient Clinic). Unfortunately, there was an accident on the highway yesterday morning and it took us FOREVER to get to the hospital. 

First activity at the hospital was a Visual Field Test at Ophthalmology which was a follow up from Eric's previous treatment and he did great! 

Next we headed to clinic where Eric had to have his port accessed for the first time. He was nervous about it so Kristina, the outpatient clinic's Child Life Specialist came in with all her fun distraction toys. Eric chose the VR and didn't even feel his nurse accessing the port. 

Next, our entire team (Doctor, Nurse Practitioner, Nurse Practitioner student and Nurse Clinician) came in for his exam and chat. Eric still had the VR on and had the entire room in stitches as he randomly reached and swiped the air right in front of and beside his doctor. The team concluded he was in good spirits and feeling just fine! 

His blood counts have again dropped a bit, but actually not enough to require a transfusion yet. With his hemoglobin at 85 (for reference, it needs to be over 125 to donate blood) he will likely be low energy. We've decided to keep him at school, instead of sitting at home with his iPad, but he will have the option to come home early if he needs to rest. 

Eric's bone marrow biopsy will be scheduled for Nov 27 or 28, in 2 weeks, which will give us an indication of whether or not the treatment he had last week is working. Additionally, we are continuing to wean his immune suppressants so his new immune system can fight the bad cells, but it is a balance because he was taking the immune suppressants to stop his new cells from fighting off his body (GVHD - Graft Versus Host Disease). Eric did have a chronic cough through the spring and summer from GVHD in his lungs. So we will also have a follow up at Respirology next week to ensure he isn't losing ground on that front. For now, we continue to wait.