Day 23 of 57 in Consolidation Phase

We are thankful to report a good week for our family! We are going on almost three weeks out of the hospital! We are surrounded by summer colds right now and really praying/hoping that Elliot avoids it. Dave and Addie both have colds, so we feel like it’s only a matter of time until Elliot gets it too.

Last week (6/9), Elliot’s counts were all great which allowed us to actually take him out places. We feel like whenever his counts are good, we need to do something fun to get him out of the house! So we took him to the pool one day and another day we went and had a family picnic in downtown Greenville and let him and Addie play around in the fountains (see picture). He wasn’t too fond of the water, and preferred to stay put in his stroller (which was okay by us!).

We were making some progress with his walking, but that’s gone backwards a little bit. He gets one type of chemo called Vincristine (VCR) which affects the nerves in your legs, feet, and jaw. The doctors think this is most likely why he can’t walk well. He also has developed some strange jaw quiver which happens occasionally, also most likely from the VCR. He’s had two doses of the VCR the last two weeks, but now he’ll get a break from that type for 3 weeks. Hopefully, the break will give him some time to work on his walking skills!

Yesterday (6/16) Elliot’s counts were all very low which was as expected from the chemo the prior week. His platelets were only 60,000. They need to be 75,000 in order to get his high dosage chemo this next Thursday. We go back on Monday to get his platelets checked. If they are still low, then they will probably give him a transfusion so hopefully they will be high enough to get the chemo on Thursday. This chemo requires an overnight hospital stay as well.

Elliot seems to tolerate the chemo well. Occasionally he gets extra cranky, but it’s hard to know if that’s because he’s almost two or if he doesn’t feel well! His eating is sporadic. Yesterday, all he wanted to eat were pickles and hotdogs. Today, he won’t touch those, but is eating saltines, peanut butter, and some oatmeal. The week before last his eating habits were almost “normal”! He does not like sweets anymore (so won’t touch a cookie) and seems to crave salty foods. Mealtimes are never dull around here trying to find something that tastes tolerable to him! The kitchen counter is usually full of different food choices.

"Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning."
Psalms 30:5