Evan just finished his 3rd trip to Oklahoma City Childrens Hospital today. They will probably be weekly for up to six weeks, then monthly to every three months for next 3-4 years.
When the little guy went in originally, his bone marrow content was 98% T-Cell Leukemia. Doctors said he would have only survived another two weeks tops. They also warned that the initial operation had high risks of lung collapse and death. On life support in the original visit, they pumped different stuff into his little body day and night.
After a week, bone marrow Leukemia had dropped to levels that allowed him to go home with a sack full of meds ranging from Chemo, steroids, antibiotics, anti-nausea, and on and on...
The following Week, he returned to the hospital for more sedation and operations including the removal of more bone marrow for testing. The results were better than expected with an overall Leukemia count now down to 9%. Again he was able to come home, but suffered considerable pain and nausea so he was unable to stand straight or do much walking. His body muscles are basically evaporating. I feed the little guy meds and made him food about every ten minutes. He can't stop eating.
What I probably did not mention was that his meds are a new experimental combination of chemo drugs and others to make side effects less traumatic. Since he was so close to death originally, the doctors asked his parents if they would participate in this trial and also allow some extra bone marrow removal for testing. The theory is that these real situation tests may prove a better treatment system for all kids facing leukemia in the future. The doctor has been working on these kids with luekemia for 30 years and has pioneered some of the biggest break-throughs in the field of treating cancer in kids. The initial goal of these trail meds were to achieve total extinction of cancer cells within the first 30 days.
Today Evan was back under sedation for more treatments and testing.
He is home now and still doing pretty well considering all he has to suffer through. The good news is that tests today showed a "possible" cancer percent of about 2%. I say possible because that 2% may just be dead cancer cells. The doctors say that it may well be the case that the 2% is really "no cancer" at this point. I gotta point out this is a timeframe of about half of what they had hoped to accomplish this in with the new experimental drugs.
Round One goes to an incredible staff of dedicated doctors and Evan of course. Now for round two. At this point Evan has no immune defenses left. It will take some time for that process to restart and build itself back up again. In the mean time Evan is in a very dangerous second phase. Any simple bug or infection or germ could be potentially fatal. I purchased a hepa filter with infared to filter the air in the house, just to put the battle a little more in his favor. Please keep sending prayers and good thoughts for the little guy.
jb
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Topic: please send prayers (Read 10002 times)