Easter Bunny

Eric had his check up at the hospital today. He was excited that it was today because the Easter Bunny was going to be there this afternoon and I had initially told him we wouldn't see him because we only go on Wednesdays or Fridays. However, because of the holiday tomorrow, Eric's doctor asked us to come in today. So we went to the blood lab, then up to the Oncology Clinic. The whole time we were discussing whether the Easter Bunny would be pink or white, picturing a person in a bunny costume. Imagine our surprise when we laid eyes on Edward (pic below). 

Eric only has 8 days left of his 28 day oral chemo and he is doing great. His blood counts are still good, he's still full of energy and he's feeling generally pretty great. 

Spring Break

To start Spring Break, the kids and I went to Prince George for 4 days. In addition to visiting Grandma Wendy (weenie!) and Uncle Jon & Auntie Becky, we were able to see lots of other family as well. We went to the playground with Auntie Sue, and cousins Jenn, Colin and Ethan. We had Auntie Grandma Sharon, and cousins Kristy, Jeremy, Jaiden and Emma over for dinner and a rousing game of Telestrations.  Eric was so good with Emma, who is a toddler, and spent quite a bit of time playing hide and seek with her. Some of these people are cousins in law or 2nd cousins and beyond, but it's all too confusing for me so I just call them cousins; Eric says they are "half" cousins. Eric had so much energy when we were in Prince George; it was so amazing (and exhausting) to see! 

Back at home, Eric had a check up at the clinic on Friday. Since he is feeling so well, it was a quick in and out! His hemoglobin and platelets are still in the normal range, which is absolutely incredible. However, his white blood cell counts are dropping, which is expected with his current treatment. Since he's currently receiving treatment and his white blood cell counts are dropping, they want to keep a close eye on him, so we go back for another check up next week. Due to the long weekend, we'll go on Thursday and Eric is pretty excited since the Easter Bunny will be at the hospital Thursday afternoon. 

After Eric's clinic visit Friday, I dropped him off at Granny's house. Later on Friday Daddy and Joel drove over to Granny's for the 3 of them to have a stay-cation, and for me to spend the weekend all alone at home. It has been a lovely break from fetching snacks for small people every 10 minutes! 

The kids have one week of Spring Break left. They come home from Granny's today and Grandma arrives to spend the week here. We'll be having some low key time at home, perhaps with the odd adventure and/or play date mixed in. 

Day 7 of 7

Day 7 of 7 was actually yesterday. He is done the 7 days of IV chemo and done 7 of 28 days of the oral chemo. Eric was SO excited to get his sticker (dressing) off so that he could scratch!!! He's feeling well, maybe a little tired, but feeling good.  

Eric did really well as an outpatient for the IV chemo. He has resisted in the past because of the drive, but we've been listening to the Greeking Out podcast and he is really enjoying it. (Thanks for the recommendation, Lisa!) 

He has also enjoyed his early start to Spring Break, spending the morning in Mundy Park for a dog walk, hospital mid-day, and screen time in the afternoon. 

We went out for dinner with some family friends last night to properly kick off Spring Break and now the kids and I are off to Prince George for a few days to visit Grandma & Abby and Uncle Jon & Auntie Becky and hopefully catch up with lots of other relatives as well! 

Some Mundy Park photos and one hanging at the hospital. 

Day 3 of 7

I was watching an episode of Friends the other night and Phoebe's Grandma was "updating" the phonebook with the newspaper obituaries. Eric says "What's a phone book?" 

We were able to start the next round of treatment this past Saturday. The outpatient clinic is closed on the weekends, but we get to pop into the inpatient ward for an outpatient visit. The first day they had to access his port and we were exactly 1.5 hours. Yesterday only about an hour and only 2 hours and 40 min door to door. A lot better than 24 hours in the hospital! Though between the driving and daylight savings, I'm pretty tired. Eric is doing very well. Saturday after his first day of treatment he had a playdate and then spent the evening bouncing a moon ball around MY LIVING ROOM! Sunday morning before his treatment, the moon ball was back out and Eric was seeing how many times in a row he could bounce it into the empty laundry basket. This morning he's wide awake at 7am like daylight savings doesn't even exist! I expect he will become more tired from the treatment as the week goes on, but so far so good. 

We have to leave for the hospital about 10:30 so he could go to school until recess but he has opted not to. Instead he will be joining Millie and I for our morning walk in Mundy Park.

I did speak with his doctor Friday afternoon about the results from the tests at the respiratory clinic. Eric was previously taking immune suppressants to control the chronic cough caused by Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD) but since his relapse all of those meds have been discontinued and his cough is definitely present. As a result, it's no surprise that his lung function has decreased, though only slightly. He'll repeat the tests again in 2 weeks and we're going to keep a close eye on it, but no treatment for now. As I told the doctor, he's going to have a heck of a time convincing me to put Eric back on immune suppressants after what we've been through the last 6 months. Not that they are necessarily the cause of the relapse, but we don't know what caused it exactly and I am suspicious.  

Here is Eric window shopping the LEGO catalogue. Actually he came up to me holding it and said "we need to talk." Funny kiddo! 

Clinic Today

Busy day for Eric and I today! First, we popped into the school so he could join his class photo. Then blood lab, respiratory clinic, oncology clinic and back to respiratory clinic. We don't have the results from the respiratory clinic yet, but the Oncology Clinic was good. Eric's blood counts were great! Not quite normal, but better than we've seen in months. And they did that all on their own, without aid of transfusion! It's a sign that his marrow is filling up with the healthy donor cells, and not the abnormal cells. 

With this incredible news, the question is: what next? We've decided to do another round of treatment; this is the safest option to hopefully ensure that he doesn't lose any ground in his recovery. It will be the same as last time with 7 days of an IV chemo as well as 28 days of the oral chemo, but at half the dose. The dose of the oral chemo last time started to make Eric nauseous and it zeroed out his white blood cell counts putting him at risk of infection. With a half dose, hopefully he gets all the benefit with less side effects. We don't have a date yet to start the next round, but we'd like to start sooner than later. We are going to try to do the 7 days of IV treatment as outpatient. Eric prefers inpatient because of the drive, but it's only about a 10 min treatment and I really don't want to stay in the hospital just for that. 

Eric enjoyed high fiving the bear at the hospital today. 

Amazing News

Eric has an appointment at the Oncology Clinic tomorrow, but his doctor called late this afternoon because he didn't want to wait until tomorrow to share the GOOD NEWS! The results of Eric's biopsy show 90% donor cells!!! Only a few short months ago, the donor cells were below 20% and the doctor said he would lose his graft. Additionally, there is not only no sign of blasts, but also no sign of the abnormal dysplastic cells. This is better news than we had even thought possible. It does come with a lot of caveats, but for now, we are absolutely over the moon and enjoying the good news 🥳🥳🥳 

THANK YOU :)

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to the Go Fund Me. The kindness and generosity of friends, family, acquaintances, and even people we have never met is truly touching. This money will be extremely helpful as our family addresses increased costs in terms of medication, counselling and physiotherapy at home, as well as, food and comfort items for hospital stays, while at the same time having a reduced income so that I am able to focus on Eric’s needs.

I would also like to thank all the people who have contributed in so many ways over the past year and a half:

•           The Baker Drive staff who made Eric an amazing gift and activity basket when he was first diagnosed
•           All the friends and family who gifted stuffies, activities, gift cards, etc when Eric was first diagnosed
•           Everyone who contributed to the meal train at our home during Eric’s initial phases of treatment last year
•           Everyone who contributed to the meal train for Chuck and I at the hospital during Eric’s first phases of treatment last year
•           The family who walk Millie, and all the people who have offered to walk and/or look after her
•           Everyone in the Baker Drive Elementary community who contributed money and gift cards late last year after Eric’s relapse
•           The wonderful neighbours who dropped off 2 lbs of strawberries and a case of mangos after hearing they were Eric’s favourite
•           The friends who gifted us admission at the aquarium so Eric could have a fun day out during a hospital stay
•           The people who have gifted us items from our Amazon Wish List to make hospital stays easier
•           The friends who randomly show up at the hospital with strawberries, coffee, donuts, dinner, tea, etc
•           The friends who randomly show up at home with strawberries, lunch, dinner, muffins, cookies, etc, and
•           The friends who not only make me leave the house for coffee, brunch, dinner, a movie, trivia night, but then also pay for it too.

Everyone has been so incredibly supportive that I am probably missing other kindnesses and I apologize if I have missed you. This last year and a half has been the hardest thing that we have ever, and hopefully will ever, have to deal with it, but it has opened my eyes to how many truly good people there are in the world. I am so thankful for all of you.

With love from Jacqueline, Chuck, Joel, Eric and Millie