Eric made it to his swimming lesson on Sunday. Finally! It's been a few weeks and he really enjoyed being back in the pool.
This week we only had to go to the hospital on Wednesday. Even though we are there all the time, this did feel like a bit of a reprieve after being there 5 days in a row, only getting one day off, and then in twice last week. Eric's port site is still pretty sensitive and now he's got a new and weird looking bruise over it, along with another weird one at his waist/hip and a huge one on his wrist. The bruises aren't new for him - he's taken to calling himself an old banana - but these ones are either odd or huge. We will be showing his doctor on Monday for sure, but I assume they are "normal" in the circumstances.
Eric got his access, bloodwork and platelet transfusion in decent time on Wednesday. I did have a chance to have a good chat with his Oncologist.
The full biopsy results are about 10% leukemia blasts, 78% of the abnormal cells and somewhere between 15-20% donor DNA. Overall, it is a small improvement, but improvement is better than the alternative. The leukemia blasts are higher (not an improvement) which had me a little confused, but his doctor explained that the abnormal cells are making the leukemia blasts and they can do that whether there are 78%, 88% or 28% of them. It is from the break between cycles, so not actively suppressing them.
I also was able to ask him about Health Canada and the clinical trial for this new med. Clinical trials require a lot of effort and energy to set up. They were working on that, but in the meantime, the FDA approved this medication for additional uses just a week ago. As a result, he has appealed Health Canada's decision. With the additional approval, he believes they should be able to get Health Canada approval without having to set up the trial. He expects to have a response soon.
Eric has been counting down to Halloween for over a month and it finally arrived on Friday! Thursday after school he carved his pumpkin. he used a stencil, but did it all himself for the first time. Well, except for scooping out the guts. Neither of my kids will scoop the guts!
Eric doesn't usually go to school on Friday, but he was excited to go this week for the costume parade, pumpkin contest and classroom movie/party. He was also super excited to go trick or treating, despite the torrential downpour. The big kids went off on their own, while Eric and his friends followed the route they had laid out with all the parents tagging along behind. After about an hour, we ran into the big kids headed home. They were soaking wet and had enough. Eric and his bestie made it another 15 min before turning around. They traded candies with the big kids, who were in the basement eating candy and watching tv. When Eric's friend headed home, Eric put on his pjs and had some hot chocolate to warm up.
After making us put up so many Halloween decorations, Eric has already tried to get out of cleaning them up. Nice try kid!
Back to clinic Monday and Friday next week.
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