Eric's Oncologist wants to keep a close eye on him with this new treatment, so we are in clinic 2x a week for the next little bit, at least. We went in Tuesday, which was a day earlier than our regular platelet schedule. Turns out that was a good thing since Eric's platelets were already down to 7. His white blood cell count is almost normal, which is super weird (compared to what I am used to), but we still don’t know which of the many possible reasons explains it. We saw Eric's NP on Tuesday and she said just keep on as we have been. The bloodwork all looks fine, and, in fact, Eric's liver numbers look a bit happier than they were when he started the new med. The ECG from Friday also looks good.
Outside Valet in the BCCH parking lot
Eric is still feeling really good and went to school Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, the days he wasn't at clinic. He also has a few make up swim lessons on the books and we were able to squeeze in 2 this week. Unfortunately, for Eric, it was butterfly week, and his instructor loves butterfly. Eric is getting better at it though; it's all about the timing.
Friday morning Eric had a session with his online teacher in the morning and then we went straight to clinic from that. We arrived about 20 minutes before his appointment and were still able to squeeze in an ECG at the Heart Center first. The popcorn guy was back in the lobby and Eric insisted that he needed to try the rainbow popcorn. Eric's platelets had been pre-ordered, but weren't ready when he was accessed. Another nurse did tell us a funny story though. The night before they got a call at 5:45pm saying Eric's platelets were ready. They were so confused. I guess the pre-order went in yesterday. Unfortunately, it appears the blood bank gave them to someone else that evening! Eric's doctor is on service this week, in charge of the inpatient ward, so very busy. We often don't see him in clinic on these weeks. Instead we saw an Immunology Fellow who is on rotation with the BMT team for the month. He came in and had a chat and did Eric's exam and then he came back later, once Eric's bloodwork was back, with another one of the Oncologists who we've seen before. Everything is continuing to look pretty stable; though a couple points of interest. Eric's platelets were 19. We were a day earlier than our regular schedule so you would expect them to be a little higher, but they weren't on Tuesday. As a one off, this means nothing at all, just an interesting observation. Also of note, Eric's hemoglobin is down to 86. His last blood transfusion was less than 2 weeks ago and it looks like he'll need blood again on Tuesday. Hopefully we make it through the weekend with Eric feeling okay, but he was exhausted Friday evening after his appointment.
We've found a bit of a routine with Eric's new med and not being able to eat for 2 hours before and after, though he does get upset about it on occasion, like last night when I put out some Christmas chocolates. It is also going to require some planning to get him dinner before 6pm when Joel has Cross Country until 5:30pm twice a week. So far we've been able to manage with weekend activities like the early movie last weekend, with a little planning, but it is definitely harder when not on our regular schedule, so the Christmas break might be a bit of a challenge.
Next week we are back at clinic Tuesday and Friday, plus have an Endocrine follow up appointment on Tuesday afternoon.
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