Today is day 6 of our stay here at City of Hope and I am happy to say that everything is going better than expected! Thank you for all of your prayers! Please keep them coming!
William finished his chemotherapy early yesterday, so far there has been minimal side effects. Actually, the only side effect that William has experienced thus far is a loss of appetite and ever changing emotions (from the steroids)
One of the biggest concerns we had with the new chemotherapy was bladder damage and bleeding. Ifosfamide, one of the chemo drugs he is receiving is notorious for causing extreme bladder problems, and because of William's hemorrhagic cystitis caused by the first round of chemo in April 2010, Dr. Anderson has been monitoring William's urine, hydration, and platelet counts very closely. William has also been receiving Mesna several time a day. If William's urine analysis from this morning looks as good as it has been for the past week, we will be able to go home (to LB)
Tomorrow we will start our 10 to 14 day process of giving William daily shots of Neupogen. Click here for information. The neupogen will push the stem cells out of the bone marrow and into the blood stream so that we can collect the stem cells and "rescue" them. There is a specific window of opportunity during which the Dr. will be able to rescue the ideal and best stem cells, therefore close monitoring is required and we will be doing several visits to the hospital during the week.
As with most drugs related to treating cancer, Neupogen has some extreme side effects of which the worst is extreme bone pains and aches. The bone pain is a sign that the bone marrow is "revving" up (working overtime) to produce those much needed cells. Please pray that the pain is tolerable and that William's body is strong enough to make all of the necessary cells needed to make the stem cell rescue a success!!! Please pray that God gives Sir. William the courage, calm emotions and strength to make it thought the next 10 to 14 days of daily injections.
Along with all the other prayer requests listed, please keep Randell and my my dad in your prayers. The two men are both at home, alone, working hard to support us! It is important to remember that the journey we are on is not just one about William's treatment and healing but, it is also a journey for our entire family entailing strength, commitment, faith, love and determination!
Happy Mother's Day.
Keep on Keepin on.
Live Strong in God's miracle of healing!
2 comments:
I have commented before, my wife is Angela (you are new friends on FB). I am a survivor of DSRCT for just over a year now, last year (just a little before now) I was going through some of the same chemo as little William (I did 5 cycles of ifosfamide amongst others -- they used the ewings protocol on me). I just wanted to try and encourage you about the side effects related to both the ifosf and Neupogen. The Mesna worked excellent for me, I never experienced any bladder problems (one of the rare side effects I didn't experience from all of the chemo). With the neupogen, I never experienced any bone pain, ever (the worst of that was giving myself a shot, but it was quick). I know we're all different, and William is a little guy; but don't worry about those particular side effects, I'm sure William will be just fine with that (I'm praying for that!)!
Blessings, Bobby.
Btw, we went to a naturopath, not until my last 2 cycles of chemo unfortunately, who works specifically with cancer patients (he's on staff at Providence Hospital's Cancer Center in their integrative medicine section -- his name Dr. Loch Chandler). I had the same side effects that you describe of William -- loss of appetite (I got a weird metalicy taste in my mouth), mouth sores and body sores, and neuropathy in my feet -- anyway, he had me take L-Glutamin powder, HMF powder (a powerful probiotic), Fish oil (like Carlson's liquid), and Zinc tablets (which helps restore appetite and removes the strange taste in the mouth produced by the chemo and the whole cocktail). The L-Glutamin powder helps mitigate mouth sores, body sores, neuropathy, and promotes good gut-healthy and thus quicker rebounds from the "down" time produced by the chemo.
Anyway, if you're interested in any of that you can email me at: icor22@hotmail.com. My wife actually knows more than I do about this stuff, but I'm up to speed as well :-).
Blessings, you guys are going to make it. I'm praying for you and the guys back home!
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