Back on track
The past few weeks have been quiet after several hiccups transpired to delay Wes’ treatment, and there’s been so much going on – or not going on – that I’ve not been in a writing mood.
Yesterday we had an appointment with a nutritionist to discuss his weight and eating. He’d lost a bit of weight over the past month, and as a result we’d been very concerned with his eating. Looking at the big picture, the nutritionist reassured us that he was handling everything great, his numbers were fine, and we were doing fine – everything we worried about was normal in his condition and there was no cause for alarm. This was enormously comforting. His weight has actually edged back up by about 1/2kg since its lowest point, and he’s actually been eating quite well, if monotonously – milk, rice with butter, rice with (marina) sauce, and corn tortillas have been sustaining him, with rare interest in a burger, or a piece of chocolate, or some berries, but not much else. We’ve begun giving him zofran daily – it’s a common anti-nausea med we’d previously only given with other meds if they were expected to upset his stomach, but at his age it was suggested that some of his eating challenged could simply be due to an upset stomach he’s not capable of describing. Correlation isn’t causation, but so far the zofran seems to be doing the trick – his appetite has definitely increased since we started him on it daily.
While we were there, they decided to run some labs to see if his numbers – particularly ANC – were going to be good enough for us to return today for chemo. He needed to hit 750 to start treatment again, and he was down in the 200s at the last check and few days before, but amazingly yesterday his ANC had skyrocketed up to 1800 so we’re back today to begin the second half of consolidation.
I’ll never get used to seeing him sedated, and while I can handle procedures with blood and needles, a lumbar puncture – “spinal tap” – is somehow harder to watch. Then again, my discomfort is nothing compared to what he’s dealing with.
