Weekend Update

Been a few days.  Here's the summary.  J made his own lunch the other day.  He likes to drink from a straw, and he needed a new one, so he climbed up on the countertop so he could reach the straws on the top shelf of our cupboards.  He spent a good amount of time doing schoolwork with his teacher, who has been his tutor.  He takes his medicine with only a little complaint.  He sleeps through the night without waking to go to the bathroom.  He wears clothes and doesn't complain of any surgical incision.  He beat Mom at Monopoly today while most the rest of us went to church.  The only symptoms he is having are pain when he urinates related to either the ureteral stent or the leftover stones.  Not nearly as bad as what sent him to the hospital earlier this month, but still there.


Thursday he had his blood levels checked.  This was three days after the last chemotherapy, and we anticipated he would need a blood transfusion and the shots to make his white blood cell production increase.  It was a bit frustrating for Mom (I was still out of the country) as the clinic never called with any results and it took a bit of time after hours to get an answer, but the labs were good.  The white blood cell count was elevated, which either means there is an infection, or it's the normal response from getting the stimulation shots, but no more shots were needed.  The hemoglobin (red blood cells) was improved from earlier in the week and he did not need a blood transfusion.  His platelets were still pretty low, making him more likely to bleed.  With the change in chemotherapy, I assume his time to recover also changed.  Great news overall.

Monday he gets his follow-up PET scan.  Easiest if there is no activity or no detectable disease.  Then we know for sure there is only one more cycle of chemotherapy and we are done with a very intense three months.  If it's positive, I'll update when I know more.

Wednesday they will take him to the operating room.  They will use a scope to look in his ureter for any leftover kidney stones.  They will probably downsize the stent to a smaller one.  Should be simple, but it is under general anesthesia.

Aside from that, we have nothing else to look forward over the next several days, except J, who plans to go to school for their Harry Potter day on Friday.