Still Being a Teen

Most parents will be able to relate to this post I am sure. Most teenagers do not understand the importance of keeping in touch with their parents when they are not at home. Even though we say "call me" that tends to get lost in the shuffle and the teens get caught up in their activity and mom and dad are the last thing on their minds.

When this happens, teenagers should understand that their parents are sitting there waiting and having these horrible visions run through their minds of their child being involved in an accident, or laying in a jail cell or worse. My mother was always afraid of things and always told me to make sure I had on clean underwear before leaving...in case something like that happened.

Most times, when a teen doesn't call in, one of these events have not taken place, it's just the fact that the teen really is not interested in stopping what he/she is doing to check in with the parents.

Well imagine if you will this scenario happening with Adam at this current time in his life. As parents we are focused on getting him better and making sure that he is doing everything he needs to do to make that happen. At the same time we don't want to muffle his teen experience and we want him to maintain his relationships even though he has cancer. It has been made very clear to us from all the experts that it is important to allow Adam to continue leading as normal as a life as possible.

I guess that means not calling when he is out with friends.

His mother began to get worried as she had not heard for him in some time, and of course his cell phone was left at home.

As a parent, panic sets in. Visions of horrible things begin to move across our minds. We try to remember..."Did he put on clean underwear??" Then they come home.

It is very difficult for us to remember that Adam is still a teenager, with all those teenage emotions, feelings and confusions. He also still needs his freedom and independence to continue to find out who he is and who he will become. Even though he is dealing with a disease that has changed all of our lives, it is not changed the fact that he is still a teenager.

So did he get in trouble for not checking in with mom?

He said he did, but I doubt it was as bad as he made it out to be. I mean, he is still a teenager.

1/3 of the Way

Well, chemo session #3 is completed. Two days in and back home. So far Adam seems to be tolerating the new drugs very well, but the real test comes later in the week and once we see his labs. So far though his counts have been good and there is no reason to think that this new set of drugs are going to cause him to react any differently.

We met with the radiation doctors and they explained what type of treatments they will be administering once the chemo is completed. He will have 2-3 weeks of radiation, every day, Monday thru Friday, for about 15 minutes each day. Now he will not actually be under the radiation for that amount of time, but those are about how long the sessions are. They are going to be localizing the radiation in the neck, chest and lung areas. This could pose problems for him in the future as they are going to be close to the heart. However any long lasting effects are minimal, but he could possibly acquire heart disease at an earlier age. It is a very minimal chance, but it is there.

He will have three more sessions of chemotherapy, and then 3-4 weeks after those are completed he will begin the radiation therapy. Then, if all is well he will be completed with the treatment phase, and will move into the follow up phase.

Things seem to be moving along at a good pace, and the treatments are working. There is a light at the end of this tunnel.

Hurry Up and Wait

We are currently at the hospital, in clinic waiting for our room. Adam was a scheduled admit for Chemo today, but we still have not been put in a room. We have been here since 8:15 this morning and it is now 12:30. Oh well, that is hospitals for you, hurry up and wait.

The news today is that, Adam will definitely be doing radiation, but when is up in the air at this point. It will be after his chemo sessions. right now they are say that if everything goes well, and the tumors continue to respond as well as they have, we will have this chemo session and then 3 (maybe 4) after this, then the radiation 3-4 weeks after that for a period of 3-4 weeks. So if everything goes well, he should be out of the treatment phase by October 1, 2009. Not bad. And hopefully cancer free!

Adam did receive some good news today. He is eligible for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. He wished for a car, but they could not provide that of course, but they did say a family trip to Hawaii could be granted!! YEAH. But it is his wish, and they are going to bringing by some literature later during his stay this time regarding what he can wish for. I think honestly, his wish would be for the cancer to be gone...

Good News

We received some good news on Wednesday regarding all the tests Adam underwent on Monday. It looks as though the chemo is doing what it needs to do to get Adam back to being 100% cancer free. On the majority the doctor has said that the tumors and the masses have shrunk in size from 45-55%. This is outstanding news, and we are all excited to know that all this work is accomplishing the goal.

However, today we received another call from his doctor and he stated that after looking at all the tests and the effect that the chemo has had on the cancer Adam is still going to have to undergo radiation. He said even though the disease has shrunk considerably, it has not shrunk enough for Adam to be considered a fast responder. So the chemo will continue with a couple new drugs, and then in about 3-4 months he will undergo radiation. The good news is also that no one has said anything about surgery as they had discussed before, so this is great news.

The pesky mass in and around the neck and clavicle area are the ones that have not responded as quickly as they have hoped, so even though the news is good, we need to continue to battle this as aggressively as possible. The doctors have indicated that our goal is to eradicate this disease completely and to do that we need to fight it as hard and as aggressive as possible.

So as Adam looks ahead he can be excited that what he and the doctors are doing is working. We just need to continue to work hard and fight with all we have. So to say we have good news and bad news is not really the case, because we knew going into this that radiation was probably inevitable. We do say though that this is definitely good news and as long as we see these tumors decreasing it is good news!

An All Day Extravaganza!

Today is actually a day that we have been looking forward to. Even though it means spending the entire day in the hospital going from one department to another, getting poked and prodded and having to ingest nasty liquids and then have radioactive die put into your veins. Yes, I said we were looking forward to this. Well at least Adam's mother and I are looking forward to this day. Adam on the other hand may not find it as stimulating.

But, the tests are being done for a very important reason. It will tell us just how much the tumors have shrunk and if the chemotherapy Adam has been undergoing is doing what it needs to be doing. it will also initiate the next few months of treatment and how we will go forward from this point. Of course, both the doctors, Lisa, Adam and myself are sure that the treatments are working. Now to find out just how much. We will receive some initial results later this afternoon, but the big day will be the 22nd when we meet with the radiologists and the team of oncologists.

Adam has been doing fairly well, his counts are up, which is a good thing, however it is causing him a little back pain. This is a normal reaction to the Neupogen, but other than that he seems to be doing well. Adam is such a quiet subdued personality it it sometimes hard for us to determine just how he is doing. But, I am sure if he was not doing well, he would let us know.

Well we are on our way to the all day extravaganza, we will let you know our results as soon as we know, keep your fingers crossed!

Rain & Ice and Everything is Not Nice

The day started with an nice strong Midwestern ice storm. So going to work would be treacherous to say the least, however the weather reporters stated that if we waited until after rush hour, it would warm and the ice would turn to rain.

Sounded good to me, so I called into work letting them know that I was going to be late. Adam had chemo session at the clinic, scheduled for 10:30, so being concerned about the road conditions, I called his mother and she said seeing how it was later she would go out early and try to avoid the weather. So about the time I was about to leave for work I received a call from Adam's mother.

Adam was being very...aggressive would be an appropriate word for what he was being. He was hitting the dashboard, throwing food and using language 'unbecoming" of a teenage boy to his mother. So I decided to call out of work all together and investigate the situation.

Once we arrived at the hospital for his chemo session he was back to "normal" and we discussed the episode with his nurse practitioner, Lisa. She advised that it was very likely that he was experiencing "roid rage" due to the excessive amounts of steroids he had to take while on chemo to boost his metabolism and immunity. We knew it had to be something as this was not Adam's usual behaviour at all. So discussions proceeded regarding this issue and we were advised that he would need a psychological evaluation and that anti-depressants would probably be prescribed to counteract the effects of the steroids.

The day continued well, Adam had his chemo and tolerated it very well. We all left in one piece, and somewhat happier upon our departure than upon our arrival. It is inevitable that there are going to be good days and then there will be bad days, but if we can prevent the bad days then we should do what is needed to make those bad days as few as possible, for all of our sanity!

Getting down to business........

Adam came home from his dad's yesterday. It was really good to see him and know that he is feeling so good. The prednisone is doing the trick when it comes to his appetite! He is like a bottomless pit! But, I am not complaining. The more that he eats, the better because it is weight that he needs to keep up with the chemo.

We go McCullough today to get labs drawn. I'm praying that his counts are good enough to stop the GCSF. I hate giving him shots! I can do everything else that we have to do but it is so hard for me to give him a shot. It just hurts me in my heart to think that I have to do it but we do it because it will help him.

We go to clinic tomorrow (Tuesday) for day 8 chemo. Vincristine and Bleo (yuck!). Adam did really well last time and I'm praying that tomorrow goes as well. If the weather isn't bad, Adam will get to drive to the hospital but not drive back. The doctors will prescribe some Zofran or Ativan and he can't drive after he takes them.

This will be the first port access since we came home from the hospital. Adam seems to be doing great with the port. He is just complaining a little that it feels like a sore muscle. Hopefully, the soreness will wear off soon.

Now about getting back to business....... Adam has to get going on his schoolwork. We have a school meeting scheduled for the 9th and he needs to get his work finished. The last bit of math homework we haven't had a chance to even look at because the teacher didn't come in to our room this last hospital trip. But, I'm sure that he will get it done even if I have to prod him a little bit!

Home Again

Well not exactly, but home with Dad. Adam was dismissed from the hospital today after a battle with his PICC line. They (they being the nurses) normally just pull these out with no problem, however Adam's vein spasmed and caused it to clamp down on the catheter, which in turn caused the line to get stuck! OUCH!

So after several hours of warm compresses to allow the vein to expand the picc line was fully removed and discharge from the hospital was inevitable.

The second session of chemo went rather well. Very little if no nausea and he seems to tolerate it very well. Expect for draining him of energy, he is doing very well. The port site looks great. As his nurse said it was a "text book" procedure. He seems to also be tolerating it very well as well. Very little pain is associated with it. He says it feels as though his muscles are sore like he has been working out.

He actually has gained a little weight, and has even grown a little.

Adam started the New Year off here at dads and will go home on Sunday.