PreSurgery Vacation

Since Cooper's white count is up for surgery we decided to take full advantage and since we had to be in Salt Lake for his surgeon visit a couple of days before surgery we went to Hogle Zoo, the fountain at the Gateway Mall, Boondocks, Build-A-Bear and more.  We had a blast as a family.  It was fun to hang out and be together!  Here are some pictures of our little vacation.

Still Recovering from Cycle 6

Cooper had a platelet transfusion last Friday night and the blood drawn today shows he needs another one.  The hospital said they won't have the platelets in until tomorrow night at 9 p.m.  Wow, it takes a long time to get his platelets.  Primary Childrens said they will still plan on surgery for July 21st.

Recovery from cycle 6

Well Coop has been pretty unhappy the last 2 days which is a good clue that his counts are dropping and he might need some blood or platelets.  He had a blood draw late this afternoon so we should know by tomorrow morning.  We still haven't heard about the results of his bone scan from last week, hopefully the doctor will call soon.  Here is a picture of Coop and myself after his blood draw today, it wiped him out and he slept for 2 hours.

The other kids are handling things pretty good.   They have had a nice summer so far.  Isaac and Dalton went to basketball camp at ISU and had a blast.  Korbie went to a soccer camp and had fun as well.  They love to swim and hopefully before the summer ends we can get them into swimming lessons and take them to lava.   Jared is playing a little softball with the guys and looking forward to hunting this fall.  Before Coop was diagnosed I signed up for 3 marathons.  I already ran Ogden and it was so fun, a really great day.  Morgan Valley is next on July 30th.  Pocatello is the first weekend in September.  Running is a good stress reliever and I love it!!!

Jared and I were able to meet many cancer patients this last trip Primary Childrens and everyone's stories tug at our heart strings.  It is so hard to see people go through these things, especially kids.  But I know we are also given strength with our trials so that we can rise above them and become stronger and more Christ-like.  We wish all of these families the best!!!  One little guy that people instantly love is Connor, he has Downs syndrome and A-L-L.  His visits to Primarys for chemo are 28 days at a time, way too long! 

 

Cycle 6 is almost over!!!

Coop finishes chemo at 6 p.m. and then he will be discharged, hooray!!!  Fever is gone and he is feeling really good.  I bought him a new basketball last night and he has been dribbling it up and down the halls while Jared and I try to keep his IV machine by him.  I tried to get a good picture of him and his basketball but he didn't want to cooperate. 

5th day of Cycle 6

Coop ended up getting a fever of 102 yesterday, possibly due to the chemo, an infection or a virus.  When he gets a fever they start blood cultures and antibiotics.  His fever continued through the night.  Not sure if he has one this morning yet, he is still sleeping. 

He will be getting a blood transfusion today.  We should also find out the results from the bone scan he had yesterday.  Since the first round of tests the doctor has been watching 2 areas, one in the lungs and one on his femur.  The chest CT results came back yesterday and the spot on the lungs is definately not cancer, hooray!  We are still waiting to hear about the femur.

 Sounds like Coop will be discharged tomorrow at 6 p.m.  He really wants to ride his bike in the 4th of July parade and he decorated it before we left, guess we will see how he feels when we get back. 

Third day of Cycle 6

It is now the third day of cycle 6!!  Cooper has a bone scan scheduled this morning and that will be the last test before we meet with the surgeon next week.  We found out his surgery is tentatively scheduled for July 21st.  He will then have 2 weeks of recovery before starting cycle 7.  We spoke with our oncologist yesterday and she said he will only have radiation if the surgeon can't get enough normal tissue around the tumor.  She thinks where the tumor is the surgeon will have no trouble and doesn't think Coop will have radiation.  He has continued to be happy and cooperative this cycle, things are good.

Cycle 6 - Back at Primarys

We are back at Primarys for cycle 6.  This is the last cycle before Cooper has surgery to remove the tumor.  Because surgery is soon they scheduled lots of tests this time along with the chemo.  Today he has had an Echo and Chest CT, tomorrow he will have an MRI and Bone Scan.  We meet with Dr. Randall who is his surgeon next week on Wednesday to set a date for surgery.  Hopefully we find out then if Cooper will have to do radiation.  The girl we met with his same cancer was told she probably wouldn't have to do radiation but after the surgery was told it is protocol and she was here for 4 weeks straight for radiation.

Cooper did well today.  His home health nurse has been accessing port and telling him she is putting a sticker on him so he isn't scared of a needle going in.  She hides the access needle and he has felt so much better about being accessed.  I tried to explain this to the nurse here at Primarys but he misunderstood and totally showed Coop the needle.  Oops!! Coop took a deep breath and they were able to access him easily.  Sweet little guy doesn't know the needle goes in every time, even with the "sticker".  His nurse is also very funny.  Coop came with the usual bad attitude and this nurse was able to get him to smile and laugh.  He has a farting machine with a little remote.  He let Cooper take when we went for tests earlier.  Picture this: I am holding Cooper in a wheelchair, he is hiding the machine and remote and we go in elevators and down long hallways with him pushing the farting button.  I tried to keep a straight face but the tech pushing our wheelchair and Cooper were both laughing.  It was pretty funny.  He has even talked to this nurse.  Cooper wanted me to run and get him chicken nuggets, I was gone for 30 minutes and the nurse and him were watching Lightning McQueen when I got back having a good time.  It has been a really good stay so far.  Right now he is sleeping, pretty tired from getting up early to come down here.  Hopefully we can have this nurse again, he is great!!