Yesterday was a jam-packed day including:
- MRI with contrast;
- Procedure under general anesthesia to put his PICC in - this is a semi-permanent line in his arm where they administer chemo and other drugs and take blood whenever possible to minimize his need for more pokes/needles;
- Injection of drugs into his spine to keep lymphoma permanently out of there; and
- Actual chemo treatment itself.
Exhausting by anyone's standards, but he got it done.
Nurse Robyn and Nurse Angelique were Team Ollie on day one of chemo!
It was a long night, not because of the chemo itself, but the side effects of the PICC line constantly kinking in his arm and setting off alarms and a fever that occurred after the chemo treatment. Fever is apparently normal and his body still has enough immune system left to fight it with simple Tylenol, but fever is a big warning sign as chemo progresses and in future will require more blood culture tests and antibiotics.
At 2:30 am we had to have a needle to do a blood culture to ensure that the fever wasn't a serious bacteria setting in. Lots of anger around that when he refused to cooperate and had to be forced. I was very grateful that we're in a room alone right now. After that and some Gravol to stave off a bit of nausea, he slept until 9:30 am as did I, thank goodness.
Today he did his second chemo treatment and felt well enough to walk over to the Sens Den to play a bit of mini pool that he had tried yesterday after the first treatment.
Our Interlink nurse also stopped by to fill out some forms to join Candlelighters (https://candlelighters.net/) who will give us a monthly parking pass and other resources as needed. We were also told that he will get a Wish from Make a Wish (https://makeawish.ca/), so there is something to look forward to at the end. The resources are incredible and possible thanks to the generosity of people in the community. This is a great example of another tangible thing that you can do if you feel like you want to help, but aren't sure what you can do. Consider making a donation in Ollie's honour to help us pay it forward to other families battling childhood illnesses including cancer.
So we're signed up for some services now including 4-5 hours of tutoring a week to help him keep up with his classmates so he can rejoin them for grade 3 next September. We are also looking at a cool karate program called Kids Kicking Cancer which Ollie is enthusiastic about and may help him to manage the anger associated with a lack of control of his life and his, body right now, which may be made worse by steroids that are part of the chemo therapy.
One last note before we sign off. Last night we were visited by a young woman named Bria and her parents. She was celebrating her one year anniversary since her own diagnosis and delivering a gift of a warm and cozy blanket to new patients like Ollie as that is what she found comforting when she first started at CHEO and a lovely $20 CHEO gift card to parents to get a warm meal. Her family was lovely and so positive. I asked and she told us that she gets to "Ring the Bell" in April and I told her I hoped we would be here that day to cheer her success. Kindness and positivity abound here and it is yet another sign that we are blessed. Big hugs to all!
God is holding your hand, Ollie and family!
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