6-3-16

Well it's been a tough week for Drew, and therefore the rest of us. It isn't unexpected as this is the week his body responds to the chemo and his counts drop, he feels crummy, until he rebounds and feels better. This is also the week that if he runs a fever, we race to the hospital to start antibiotics since his immune system is totally depleted. He's been cranky since Tuesday, and that night was really restless and uncomfortable. I called the doctor at 2:30 AM to see if we should bring him in. We decided to try our stronger pain meds and see if he improved, since he still didn't have a fever. Come morning though, he did have a fever, and still wasn't doing very well. So I dropped Molly off with a friend (she was pretty sad and upset she couldn't go with us...), and brought Drew into St Mary's ER. We were admitted since his white count was so low. Here he continues to be very upset and restless. I think more then his usual "down" week attitude. So they did a couple Xrays, and are doing a CT scan today to rule out any other issues besides "just" feeling crummy in this phase of his chemo cycle. Particularly they are seeing if they see any gas bubbles in his intestine wall (Typhlitis), or anything other complication that is unexpected. Since he's been known to be kind of a wild card around here! In general, we will be hospitalized while we wait for his counts to come up since he had fevers this week. Everything *should* get better after his counts come up. So like we have done in the past, we wait. We pray that nothing else is seriously wrong, and that it's just him going through the ups and downs of chemo. Please pray the CT scan doesn't show anything alarming, and that he feels better soon. Also for the rest of us to have patience with him, and to stay positive.

These weeks are always hard for me to get through. Its so hard to see him so sad. He usually is so happy that when he's down, it breaks everyone's heart. And especially when you feel like there is nothing you can do to make it better for him. This is why cancer is terrible. The disease is terrible, the treatment is terrible, it's hard on him and everyone involved. It is comforting to know we are almost done with these chemo cycles. And the surgery was successful--the tumor is out! We are making progress. At the beginning when they told us it was stage four, and therefore it was now as if we were in a triathlon due to the multiple fronts we had to fight this cancer, instead of "just" a marathon. Following that analogy, I guess we've almost gotten through the first leg, an intense race in an of itself. Now we need to finish strong and prepare for the next leg, and keep our eyes on the final prize--having a happy, healthy Drew back for good!

Thank you for your prayers, and as always, please continue! I've included pictures of him at Music Time before in the play room, this is all he could muster today, but I think the music was good for him! So nice they can come bed-side and play some songs with him!

~Heidi