Chase Hit Another Speedbump - Hopefully Minor
Chase had a great time at Halloween, trick-or-treating as a red ninja, even though he knew that none of the candy would be his to eat. He got a lot of exercise along the way, running around the neighborhood with Barbara and some of the other kids from our block. After getting home, he was a good sport and told us he didn’t mind if we passed the candy out to the other kids while he hit the sack.
The problem started when we couldn’t get a blood draw from his port yesterday. We tried several times and eventually had to get a rush appointment at the Oncologist office today, where they managed to flush it clear with some solution. That seemed to do the trick and we were able to get his bloodwork submitted for his regular battery of tests. We had been noticing Chase’s hemoglobin trending low for the past couple of weeks (down to 9, with a target of 11-13), so we decided to have him start eating a bit more meat (organic, grass-fed of course) – actually, we were fortunate that our friend Gus recently got a deer, so Chase was able to have venison. We were hoping that this would start to boost his hemoglobin, but we were shocked to get the results back this evening (8.3). In addition, he was very lethargic and took a long nap this afternoon.
So we made sure to have Chase eat some more meat tonight and got some additional recommendations from his Nutritionist (whey protein, L glutamine, and chlorella). We’re anxious to give this a try so we can head off any further decline, which could lead to transfusions if his hemoglobin falls below 8. We got a bit of a further scare when Chase woke up this evening with a headache (worse than he’s had in the past) as well as a fever (102 degrees). So we decided to stop the ANP treatments for the night, give him some Tylenol and hope his fever is under control in the morning. The biggest concern, once again, is that he could have some bacteria causing an infection in his port that may have gotten dislodged when they cleared the port this afternoon.
In short, we’re hoping and praying that this is just a minor speedbump and not actually an infection in Chase’s port, which could really be problematic for the ANP treatments. We also need to see his hemoglobin levels increase significantly over the next few days to stave off any further problems. Thanks to all for keeping Chase in your prayers – they’ve worked so far to enable his condition to stabilize while we work on knocking this tumor out of his system. We’ll see what tomorrow brings and keep you posted…
Lots of love and gratitude,
John & Carol Sammut
Chase and Barbara Ann
The problem started when we couldn’t get a blood draw from his port yesterday. We tried several times and eventually had to get a rush appointment at the Oncologist office today, where they managed to flush it clear with some solution. That seemed to do the trick and we were able to get his bloodwork submitted for his regular battery of tests. We had been noticing Chase’s hemoglobin trending low for the past couple of weeks (down to 9, with a target of 11-13), so we decided to have him start eating a bit more meat (organic, grass-fed of course) – actually, we were fortunate that our friend Gus recently got a deer, so Chase was able to have venison. We were hoping that this would start to boost his hemoglobin, but we were shocked to get the results back this evening (8.3). In addition, he was very lethargic and took a long nap this afternoon.
So we made sure to have Chase eat some more meat tonight and got some additional recommendations from his Nutritionist (whey protein, L glutamine, and chlorella). We’re anxious to give this a try so we can head off any further decline, which could lead to transfusions if his hemoglobin falls below 8. We got a bit of a further scare when Chase woke up this evening with a headache (worse than he’s had in the past) as well as a fever (102 degrees). So we decided to stop the ANP treatments for the night, give him some Tylenol and hope his fever is under control in the morning. The biggest concern, once again, is that he could have some bacteria causing an infection in his port that may have gotten dislodged when they cleared the port this afternoon.
In short, we’re hoping and praying that this is just a minor speedbump and not actually an infection in Chase’s port, which could really be problematic for the ANP treatments. We also need to see his hemoglobin levels increase significantly over the next few days to stave off any further problems. Thanks to all for keeping Chase in your prayers – they’ve worked so far to enable his condition to stabilize while we work on knocking this tumor out of his system. We’ll see what tomorrow brings and keep you posted…
Lots of love and gratitude,
John & Carol Sammut
Chase and Barbara Ann
posted by John & Carol Sammut at 9:57 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home