We had such a wonderful time at the hockey game on Thursday night. This smile says it all
It's from the Jumbotron. They played a few pictures of Eric that I sent in and spoke a little about his journey and then cut to Eric in the arena and around the arena with everyone cheering and the players banging their sticks on the boards and back to Eric. Before the game, they also took a couple pics of Eric and the family to put on their social media.
After all that was over, we got to just sit and enjoy the game, and it was a great game!!! Canucks won 5-1!
Unfortunately, Eric didn't get to bed until 11:30 that night and I had to wake him up at 7am on Friday morning so we could leave for the hospital at 7:30am. He had initially had his biopsy scheduled for Friday and then his Nurse Clinician called and said they had a couple urgent kiddos they had to fit in so they were going to bump us to Tuesday. We were scheduled to be there Tuesday anyhow, so I said sure. Then she called Thursday and said someone had dropped off the list so we could add Eric back on Friday. I told her that I was just worried about how long the list was and if Eric would have to go last because of his cold the previous week. She checked and got back to me letting me know that Eric was off precautions from the previous cold so wouldn't have to go last and also that there were 5 people on Friday and 5 people on Tuesday, so we said we'd go ahead with Friday. I was worried there might be 8 people on the list because I know that is the maximum number of procedures they will do in a day. However, I learned Friday that while 8 is the maximum number of procedures, 4 is the maximum number of bone marrow biopsies and the reason Eric was bumped. Also Friday morning we were thrilled to learn that 2 more people had fallen off the list, so it was only 3 people and one of them had a cold so Eric would be second! He was very happy. On biopsy days he is very focused on the list - how many people on the list, where am I at on the list - because he has to fast for the procedure.
We arrived at the hospital at 8:30am, a bit short on sleep, but happy to know Eric was second on the list. He got accessed and his nurse called for his platelets. The team had pre-ordered them so he could get the platelets in before he gets poked with a giant needle for the biopsy. They arrived about 9:15 and we were betting if the platelets would finish first or if Eric would get called for procedure first. The platelets run for about an hour and Eric was hoping he'd get called for procedure first, but no such luck. I guessed it would be a toss up, but despite being second on the list, they had got a bit of a late start and the first kiddo didn't go in until 10am. Eric's platelets finished and he was called in about 10:30am. While we were waiting, his Nurse Clinician popped in to say that his hemoglobin had dropped, and while he was still okay where it was, his Oncologist has suggested giving him a blood transfusion so we didn't have to worry about him becoming symptomatic and having a miserable long weekend. So I agreed to that and they were able to do the group and screen and order the blood while he was in procedure. The procedure went smoothly though I marveled at the difference 12 hours makes - from a great time at the hockey game to recovering from sedation at the hospital. Despite being so organized in ordering the blood, it still took a long time for it to be ready and Eric was basically recovered from his sedation by the time it showed up. Luckily, Child Life had given him a large (1000 pc) LEGO set that morning, so he had something to kill the time since it takes 2+ hours to run the red blood cells.
While the blood was running, Eric's entire team came by. They'd seen him on the Canucks social media and been sent photos of him on the big screen from another Oncologist that was at the game, so they wanted to ask Eric about his experience. Also, do his exam and chat about his bloodwork, of course. Unfortunately, the leukemia blasts circulating in Eric's blood are up. They're not high, but they are definitely there. His Oncologist said it makes sense since he's 2 weeks off treatment so it's good we're starting another round of treatment Tuesday to get them back in check. His platelets were also up a little, so his doctor says it shows that his marrow is making some healthy cells when it is not being suppressed by the chemo. It is a little hard for me to look at a platelet count of 22 (normal is 300ish) as a positive, especially when the blasts are also up from the lack of chemo suppressing them. I expect the biopsy results will also show an increase in blasts. His doctor is still not too worried because the blasts aren't showing a substantial increase and neither are his white blood cells, which would be an indication of the AML taking off. It isn't causing him to change the plan, at any rate. Eric starts another round of treatment Tuesday. It will be 5 days of IV chemo (Tuesday to Saturday) at the outpatient clinic as well as the 28 days of oral chemo starting at the same time. At least this gets us through Halloween with Eric feeling relatively well before we start the experimental treatment, hopefully in 5 or 6 weeks.
Happy Turkey weekend to everyone!
🦃
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