Merry belated Christmas!

I apologize for not sending out Christmas cards...Ethan kept us quite busy this entire year. Maybe next year will be better! Not maybe- next year WILL be better! Scott, Ethan and I hope that you all had a wonderful time with family/friends this Christmas! We spent Christmas Eve at Chris & Theresa's. We exchanged a few gifts with the girls which was fun. Ethan did not want anything to do with presents this year. Again, next year WILL be better!

Ethan is still doing well with the thickened liquids. His cough is coming back which makes me a tad nervous because his last chest x-ray did not show any better from when he was in the hospital two weeks ago and he is now off of the pneumonia medicine. Fingers are crossed...

Anywho, we hope that you have a Happy New Year! Have fun, but be safe! All of our love to you, as always.

Disney on Ice & Most importantly- We have ANSWERS!

Hello everyone!

Let's recap, shall we? So, you all know that Ethan is in remission for leukemia. He has about 9 more months to go until he is done with treatment. He has been very sick over the past year especially. He keeps spiking fevers with no apparent source. WE HAVE A SOURCE!!!

On Saturday, I drug Scott and Ethan with me to my office so I could decorate my cubie- there's a $25 Target gift card is at stake people! I'm on it! ;-) Here's what it looks like so far (I really should be compensated for that lovely Costco Kirkland advertisement!)...




So, now that you've enjoyed my office space, back to the subject at hand...Ethan was fine and playful- even pulling off the bows from the cabinets. Then, boom! Right after lunch he developed chills. When we got home he was 99.7 and just wanting to be held. He was at 104 within 30 minutes. Tylenol took a long time to kick in, but it did after Scott got him to the hospital. I did not make the initial trek because Theresa and I had plans to take Madison to Disney on Ice: Princesses for over two months. If rushing Ethan to the hospital was a new scenario, I would not have gone to the show, but Scott insisted that I go and enjoy our new annual tradition. My grandma used to take me to see the Ice Capades every year and I it was always something that I looked forward to! I am hoping that Madison will too! And, next year Delaney (Madison's lil' sis) gets to get in on the action!

Ok, so Ethan had a chest x-ray done (pretty routine for him now) and it has been showing for a LONG time a spot on his right lung. This time around, it was more profound apparently and he was diagnosed with pneumonia. He has had pneumonia a few times this year. We also had a swallow study done and it turned out to be our miracle. Ethan has been aspirating thin liquids. Ok, for those of you that don't spend half of your lives in the hospital and know what that means- it basically means that a lot of fluid has been going down the "wrong pipe" into his airway. If he can't get it back out of the airway then it settles and gets irratated/infected which equals...dun, dun, dun, dunnnnnnnn: FEVERS! Oh, and we also discovered that he has reflux too! Fun times...

What do we do for this? We now have to thicken all of Ethan's drinks to a honey consistency (with Thick-It, a tasteless modified corn starch that is going to burn an even larger hole in my wallet...not cheap!). He is also going to be taking Zantac for the reflux. No wonder the poor child doesn't look forward to eating! This is good news even though it is bad news. This is an answer to prayer. While the news is not something to be excited about because of the new processes involved, we are hopeful that we will be able to keep booger butt aspiration-free (made that word up, work with me here) and fever-free.

Ethan was released from the hospital last night since the pulminologist (sp?) was confident that Ethan could do well on Clindamyacin (icky med) at home. Amen. So, I stayed home with him today to allow him to rest and just play at home and then his buns are back at school tomorrow! :-)

Lots of love to everyone! We miss all of our family and friends from home, especially this time of year. Hugs.

Home & Well!

Hi y'all!

Ethan was released on Tuesday afternoon. He went to school yesterday and has been great since being home! He is on amoxicillan, so he should be covered against any infections for nine days at least!

I hope that the holiday season is treating you well so far!
Hugs,
Kristen

Quick update

Just a quick update:

Ethan's fever spiked up high again last night right before leaving for the hospital, so it is definitely a good thing that he is there. He needed to be tested for RSV, flu, infections...So far, the RSV and flu are negative and nothing has grown from the culture sample. I don't know what his blood counts look like, but Scott said that he did finally get some rest (I left around 1:30-2am)and that he was playful this morning. Maybe more info later...

Going back after a month out

I was hoping to post before Thanksgiving and then again after, but I didn't. My apologies...Anywho, I hope that everyone enjoyed their holiday! We spent the holiday at our dear friends house. Thank you Chris, Theresa (aka: T*Potts), Madison & Delaney! Ethan enjoyed a real dinner complete with turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and fruit salad! He also enjoyed his own little homemade cup of chocolate pudding courtesy of Theresa's mom, Becky.


Ethan had a temperature spike up to 102.5 later that night, but we decided to watch him at home. Friday no temp. Saturday, Ethan went back to Auntie's T*Potts' house so Scott and I could attend the wedding of my friend and co-worker, Paula. Her new initials are P.M. Her husband's initials are A.M. Of course I have been teasing her that their initials are now A.M & P.M., but it didn't occur to me until AFTER I had their wedding gift wrapped that I should have gotten them a clock!
Oh well...back to Ethan! He started to have another temp at Theresa's, but it subsided and he was fine by Sunday. Monday, about 4:30 a.m. he wakes up and is 103.5. We gave him Tylenol and took him into clinic first thing later that morning. By the time we got to clinic, the fever was gone (good). LOTS of tests are ran again, including a chest x-ray and CT scan. Neither tell us anything we didn't know already, so we opt to get some IV antibiotics to boost him up and then go home around 3pm.

Ethan was fine all week- great week at school! Ate well, drank well, played well, had great therapy sessions...Friday- fever again. We had a big Saturday planned, including breakfast with Santa and then an Oncology luncheon at noon. We did not make either- I was bummed for him!

Today, he was playful. I was sick this morning with some sinus junk that kept me bedridden until 3pm! Gotta love sinus stuff! Anywho, Ethan started looking puny but he needed a nap and he would not lay down- he only cried. I took him to the recliner and rocked him to sleep. His sleeping was deep but restless, so I knew something was brewing. Sure enough, he woke up with a 104. So, we are taking him into the hospital in a little bit. I have to put some finishing touches on a paper that is due tonight and then we will take him in to get some fluids and antibiotics. That's the story for now. His temp is down to 100, so Tylenol is doing it's job. I will try and keep the blog updated, so check back in.

Hugs,
Kristen, Scott & Ethan