Hello Everyone!
We have great news! Jackson just completed his last inpatient stay for high dose chemotherapy on Monday. We thought, back in July, when this all began, that this day would never come. It seemed to drag on forever and that we would never get back to being a normal family. Now, after his counts come back up from this cycle, we will begin a new stage of normal for our lives. Jackson's new future will begin to unfold, day by day, month by month, and year by year. His battle is not over, and he will continue to have challenges arise as time goes on, but for now, chemo has ended, and soon, the frequent pokes and blood draws will come to an end also. Hopefully, they will be few and far between.
We are here at Family House in San Francisco, waiting for his clinic appointment that is scheduled for Friday. There, he will get one last dose of Vincristine, blood work, and probably a platelet transfusion. Unlike past cycles, Jackson's counts were at an all time low when he was admitted of Friday. He received his chemo, and by Monday morning, Jack was neutropenic, which means his white counts are extremely low. This is the first time the chemo has taken such a toll on his little body. Jackson usually becomes neutropenic somewhere around the 10th day in the chemo cycle. This time his counts were this low on the 3rd day. This also means that his little body will take longer to recoup after the end of this cycle. Hopefully we can keep him healthy and germ free during this time. If Jackson is neutropenic and he develops a fever, then he will have to be admitted to the hospital for treatment of a possible infection. When I stayed in the hospital with Jackson on Monday night, I said a prayer that this would be the last time we spent a night in the hospital because of this disease. Please God, answer my prayers!
So Jackson already has his follow ups scheduled for June. He as everything scheduled to be completed in one week. June 15th he will have an MRI to check his spots that they are assuming is radiation injury. He will have a clinic appointment that afternoon to review the MRI and to discuss Accutane. On the 16th, he has a post-chemo hearing test, and on the 17th, Jack is scheduled to have his medaport removed. This is his central line that they access under his skin to administer chemo. So we will spend probably the whole week up here in SF. I am praying that this will be the end of our week long stays away from the rest of the family.
The photo at the top of the post is a farewell-great job Jackson party that they gave Jack as he was leaving the hospital on Tuesday morning. He was of course shy about it. The nurses on 7Long at UCSF are absolutely wonderful. Jackson's physical therapist Jaclyn spent about an hour and a half with us in the hospital on Saturday evening after her shift was over. She is a wonderful person who Jackson has really bonded with over the course of his stays. She visited with us and played with Jack before the chemo got him down. Thank you Jaclyn for being so wonderful to my son. I will continue to keep everyone posted with Jackson's progress throughout this cycle of chemo and beyond. I want to thank everyone for all of the support and prayers that have gotten us so far in this journey. Jackson still has a long road ahead of him, but now life will be on our terms, for the most part!
We have great news! Jackson just completed his last inpatient stay for high dose chemotherapy on Monday. We thought, back in July, when this all began, that this day would never come. It seemed to drag on forever and that we would never get back to being a normal family. Now, after his counts come back up from this cycle, we will begin a new stage of normal for our lives. Jackson's new future will begin to unfold, day by day, month by month, and year by year. His battle is not over, and he will continue to have challenges arise as time goes on, but for now, chemo has ended, and soon, the frequent pokes and blood draws will come to an end also. Hopefully, they will be few and far between.
We are here at Family House in San Francisco, waiting for his clinic appointment that is scheduled for Friday. There, he will get one last dose of Vincristine, blood work, and probably a platelet transfusion. Unlike past cycles, Jackson's counts were at an all time low when he was admitted of Friday. He received his chemo, and by Monday morning, Jack was neutropenic, which means his white counts are extremely low. This is the first time the chemo has taken such a toll on his little body. Jackson usually becomes neutropenic somewhere around the 10th day in the chemo cycle. This time his counts were this low on the 3rd day. This also means that his little body will take longer to recoup after the end of this cycle. Hopefully we can keep him healthy and germ free during this time. If Jackson is neutropenic and he develops a fever, then he will have to be admitted to the hospital for treatment of a possible infection. When I stayed in the hospital with Jackson on Monday night, I said a prayer that this would be the last time we spent a night in the hospital because of this disease. Please God, answer my prayers!
So Jackson already has his follow ups scheduled for June. He as everything scheduled to be completed in one week. June 15th he will have an MRI to check his spots that they are assuming is radiation injury. He will have a clinic appointment that afternoon to review the MRI and to discuss Accutane. On the 16th, he has a post-chemo hearing test, and on the 17th, Jack is scheduled to have his medaport removed. This is his central line that they access under his skin to administer chemo. So we will spend probably the whole week up here in SF. I am praying that this will be the end of our week long stays away from the rest of the family.
The photo at the top of the post is a farewell-great job Jackson party that they gave Jack as he was leaving the hospital on Tuesday morning. He was of course shy about it. The nurses on 7Long at UCSF are absolutely wonderful. Jackson's physical therapist Jaclyn spent about an hour and a half with us in the hospital on Saturday evening after her shift was over. She is a wonderful person who Jackson has really bonded with over the course of his stays. She visited with us and played with Jack before the chemo got him down. Thank you Jaclyn for being so wonderful to my son. I will continue to keep everyone posted with Jackson's progress throughout this cycle of chemo and beyond. I want to thank everyone for all of the support and prayers that have gotten us so far in this journey. Jackson still has a long road ahead of him, but now life will be on our terms, for the most part!
Jenise
Yeah! I will continue to send prayers up that Jackson stays healthy and your family won't ever have to go thru this kind of thing again! Stay strong and please keep me posted.
ReplyDeleteJanice Tucker
jtgt4ever@yahoo.com