Recovery from cycle 8

Recovery from cycle 8 has been horrible.  This cycle was definately one of the hardest for Cooper to recover from.  He wanted to eat but nothing tasted good, felt sick and was throwing up, would sleep on and off all day, had 3 transfusions in the past 5 days but finally today is feeling much better.  He is back to himself.  He has been eating, not sleeping and playing!!!  I am so glad to see this recovery end.  He is suppose to go back for chemo tomorrow but because his platelets are too low we have to wait until the next blood draw on Thursday to see if they are high enough then, if so he goes for chemo Friday morning. 

Here are some pictures from the end of cycle 8 and one from recovery.  I took the recovery one tonight.  Korbie made Dalton and Cooper crowns out of duct tape.  The boys look great!

Day 3 of Cycle 8

Cooper has tolerated the chemo well but was home-sick this morning.  Jared and I have kept him busy today, we went for a walk and did a syringe painting in the play room.  They let Cooper suck the paint up in a syringe and then shoot it all over a paper.  He had a blast.  Then he dribbled his basketball up and down the hall a few times.  Right now he is playing his DS.  Here are pictures.

Day 1 of Cycle 8

Cooper is back at Primarys for more chemo.  This is the first time he has made it back to Primarys on the 14 day cycle that they try to stick to.  He is usually 21 days from the first day of the last chemo before we are back but today it is 14.  Maybe his little body is recovering faster now that the tumor is out.  Coop has been hydrating most of the day.  They just started chemo at 6 p.m. tonight.  This means we will probably be discharged on Sunday around 7 p.m.  He seems to be doing good right now.  We will be back just in time to send the other 3 kids off to their first day of school on Monday August 22nd.  So far today he has painted a wooden turtle, picked out movies, played a hotwheels game, visited a friend named Boo and had a few snacks.  Here are some pictures.

Admitted and Discharged from Portneuf 8/11 - 8/14

Cooper was admitted on August 11th for blood and platelets.  After getting blood and waiting for platelets to arrive he ended up getting a fever and having to stay for 48 hours to have cultures and antibiotics.  The first couple of days he was miserable and hurting pretty bad.  The last 2 days he has improved and is acting more like himself.  He was discharged today around 3.  All of the kids are happy to be home.  Cooper is eating a freeze-pop and saying "I love being home" in the picture below.  Korbie is loving her kittens she has missed.  Isaac is getting ready for his first day in pads at football practice tomorrow with the help of dad and Dalton. I am catching up on laundry and the blog. 

Cycle 7 of Chemo

Cooper completed cycle 7 of chemo this past week.  After having our little break for surgery it was really hard to go back, for both of us.  He seemed to tolerate it really well.  It is the cycle with Doxorubicin which has been very hard on him in the past.  His oncologist said some patients will react better to chemo after having the tumor removed, hopefully he is one of those patients.  He seems to be doing well since we have been home.  He will have a blood draw on Monday and we will know more then.  Right now he is playing and having a great time.

Surgery Results!

Pathology report came back and the margins around the tumor were all clean.  The tumor was 90% dead which is excellent.  He will not have to do radiation!!!!!

Surgery July 21st

Today Cooper had his tumor removed.  The doctor said if they get enough clean tissue around the tumor that he won't have to go through radiation.  The doctors will give him 2 weeks to recover from surgery before starting chemotherapy again.  He still has 8 cycles to complete before he is done.  This is a picture I took while he was waiting for surgery.

After surgery he was very tired and hurting very bad.  It took awhile to manage the pain.  We had planned to stay 1 night but we ended up here for 2.  He still has a drain in that is constantly draining the surgery site.  I am not sure if we have to go home with it in or if they will take it out before we leave today.  He has been a really tough kid.  It was obvious he was in a lot of pain, so much pain that he was almost throwing up.  The first night was really hard. 

The physical therapist met with us yesterday afternoon.  She said the strength in his leg was great but she would like to see him put some weight on it.  She gave us a little walker to use and some blue tape to decorate it with.  Later yesterday Cooper and I decorated the walker and he tried it out.  It was only an hour after trying to bear weight that he took off almost running down the halls.  Once he realized he could walk again we couldn't keep him in his room.  He was zooming around the hospital with his blue walker.  It was a great night! 

It is the morning after the second night and I am waiting to hear from the doctors on the plan for today.  Right now Coop is sound asleep.  Hopefully we will be home later today.