Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Shots at Lehigh Valley
We had a 2:00 pm appointment so I picked Max up from school at 12:35 and we went home to put some numbing cream on his butt. We got to Lehigh Valley by 2:00 pm and we played with Play-Doh while we waited for his injections to be prepared. When we got his pants set so that he could get his injection, the nurse said, "Aren't we doing two shots today?" Of course, I had only applied numbing cream to one cheek so I had to answer, "Yes, but I'm an idiot." because I'd forgotten to do both cheeks. We decided to put the Sandostatin in the numbed cheek and that actually went well. Max tensed up but watched his movie, Monsters, Inc., through getting stuck and receiving the medicine. The same for the Lupron shot in the other cheek that hadn't been numbed. I'm grateful that he is so brave for the shots but also a little saddened that he's had the opportunity to get so used to everything.
Thursday, May 4, 2006
Eye Exam, MRI review, Oncology follow up at CHOP
Today we had to be in Philly at 10:30 so we left at 7:30 to be safe. I had forgotten how bad traffic on 206 can be so we went the scenic route through Califon and High Bridge. Much nicer but a little bit longer. We arrived early for our appointment and Max got to play with Ben and his younger brother (two new friends). He was really great about sharing his L-Max (hand held electronic game) and his new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car. I was pleasantly surprised. We learned from Dr. Liu that Max's MRI on Tuesday showed a stable tumor and his vision is also stable. He actually tested a little bit better with his left eye, 250/20 up from 300/20 last time, but they felt it was probably behavior related and he probably was always at 250/20. He is calling it stable and would like us to come back in 6 months but we have to check with his oncologist this afternoon to see if we're making it 3 months.
Max is now at 74 pounds and stands 4'7". I don't think that is changed from my last report but I can't find that right now.
It is now 1:10 pm and we've eaten lunch. We're going to go and do some homework while we wait to see his oncologist.
Max would like to say, "I hope that everyone that is sick gets better. And I miss all of you."
We got to see Dr. Belasco after doing some homework and she said that his MRI was stable. She agreed with Dr. Liu that eye exams could be done every six months from now on but he'll have another MRI in 3 months. We talked a little bit about the problems Max has had with sedation and we'll be switching to a modified General Anesthesia for his next scan.
Max is now at 74 pounds and stands 4'7". I don't think that is changed from my last report but I can't find that right now.
It is now 1:10 pm and we've eaten lunch. We're going to go and do some homework while we wait to see his oncologist.
Max would like to say, "I hope that everyone that is sick gets better. And I miss all of you."
We got to see Dr. Belasco after doing some homework and she said that his MRI was stable. She agreed with Dr. Liu that eye exams could be done every six months from now on but he'll have another MRI in 3 months. We talked a little bit about the problems Max has had with sedation and we'll be switching to a modified General Anesthesia for his next scan.
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
MRI @ CHOP followed by Lupron & Sandostatin @ Lehigh Valley
Being somewhat tired from TR & Kathy's wedding this past weekend, Max and I headed down to Philly last night to stay at the Wyndham. I had recently gotten a new laptop (mine suffered some trauma when it hit the floor in Florida last month) and I did not realize that my new laptop had no built in microphone. That made using the mapping software a little bit harder but it seemed to be enough to get us where we wanted ... until we got to Philly where I needed it to find the hotel. This is the same hotel that Max and I tried to find at night a while ago and ended up driving around the Four Seasons. I set everything up before hand on the computer and things seemed pretty good. We got off at different exit than before but it put us closer to the hotel so that seemed like a positive step. Then I realized that we'd started at 15th, were crossing 12th and wanted to go to 17th but the computer had been quiet for a while. Turns out it was too busy figuring out a new route to say anything. I ended up having to turn it off because it kept telling me to turn left when I knew I wanted to go right ... stupid technology. Max and I ended up going in two full circles before we saw the tiny Wyndham sign at eye level. Everything else said Sheraton or was really high up. I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong but I'll be using the software again this afternoon to get us up to Lehigh Valley since we haven't traveled that route before. Hopefully it will do better where the roads aren't so close and stacked two high like here in the city.
Max had slept in the car for most of the trip so he was a little awake when we got to the hotel. He made light banter with the ladies at the front desk and had I taken him to the bar I'm sure he could've made a few more dollars (he made $2 at TR's wedding doing bar tricks). Max was asleep again around 10:30 and then we were both up at 6:30 this morning. Things went well this morning and we got the CHOP almost an hour ahead of time. That has worked out well as our start time was 9:30, it is now 9:33 and Max is already 50 minutes into his scan. I talked with the nurses about trying to give him enough up front to keep him down for the entire scan because last time he needed more right at the end and that ended up making him angry Max for a good two days.
When he gets back to this room our plan is to get him dressed and wheel him down to the cafeteria so that we can get some food for the road before we head to Lehigh Valley for his Lupron and Sandostatin shots. If we finish as early as I think we will I'll have to call them to see if they can take him earlier since our appointment there isn't until 2.
Since I got burned once before by typing a really really really long email and then losing it, I'm going to update you in waves today.
...
Just a quick update ... the nurse just came in to tell me Max woke up and had to be re sedated. Should prove to be a nice long day.
...
It took about an hour for Max to wake up and the trip to Lehigh Valley was pretty uneventful. Max slept and the computer tried to take me there in a round about way so I shut it down ... again. We ate lunch in the hospital cafeteria and ran into the nurses while we were there. Max was a little grumpy and very un-balanced so we took our time and I tried not to do anything to start him on a tirade. I let him get french fries and potato chips for lunch. I'm sure the nurses thought that was a pretty good lunch for a growing boy.
Max's sandostatin drug is a little different than the lupron shot. The sandostatin must be prepared and injected in a very short period of time so we got to meet the pharmacist today. His nurse thought the needle was way to big so we went with a smaller one. Unfortunately the whole process of getting Max on the table for his shot took to long and the drug wouldn't go through the needle. He didn't cry for the first poke but he also didn't get any medicine. After some work on the sandostatin, Max got his second poke this time with medicine. This is much thicker than the lupron and, in fact, the residue on his butt afterward turned into a crusty paste pretty much right away. Needless to say he cried but not very hard and not very long. He was very brave but also thought two was enough. It took some convincing to get him to take the lupron. He was already tired so there were a few more tears but again nothing too bad. I was amazed that he didn't even say anything for the first poke so I was very proud of him.
It was at this point that angry Max came out and started to lecture me about many things so we headed home. Thankfully he fell asleep. He's on the couch now but I suspect, as does Tracy, that he'll be home tomorrow because he just can't go to school that angry. On Thursday he and I head back to CHOP for his eyes and to talk to his oncologist about the MRI and how things are going. Max will need blood work in two weeks to see how the Sandostatin is doing and then he'll be on monthly injections of both drugs for a while.
Max had slept in the car for most of the trip so he was a little awake when we got to the hotel. He made light banter with the ladies at the front desk and had I taken him to the bar I'm sure he could've made a few more dollars (he made $2 at TR's wedding doing bar tricks). Max was asleep again around 10:30 and then we were both up at 6:30 this morning. Things went well this morning and we got the CHOP almost an hour ahead of time. That has worked out well as our start time was 9:30, it is now 9:33 and Max is already 50 minutes into his scan. I talked with the nurses about trying to give him enough up front to keep him down for the entire scan because last time he needed more right at the end and that ended up making him angry Max for a good two days.
When he gets back to this room our plan is to get him dressed and wheel him down to the cafeteria so that we can get some food for the road before we head to Lehigh Valley for his Lupron and Sandostatin shots. If we finish as early as I think we will I'll have to call them to see if they can take him earlier since our appointment there isn't until 2.
Since I got burned once before by typing a really really really long email and then losing it, I'm going to update you in waves today.
...
Just a quick update ... the nurse just came in to tell me Max woke up and had to be re sedated. Should prove to be a nice long day.
...
It took about an hour for Max to wake up and the trip to Lehigh Valley was pretty uneventful. Max slept and the computer tried to take me there in a round about way so I shut it down ... again. We ate lunch in the hospital cafeteria and ran into the nurses while we were there. Max was a little grumpy and very un-balanced so we took our time and I tried not to do anything to start him on a tirade. I let him get french fries and potato chips for lunch. I'm sure the nurses thought that was a pretty good lunch for a growing boy.
Max's sandostatin drug is a little different than the lupron shot. The sandostatin must be prepared and injected in a very short period of time so we got to meet the pharmacist today. His nurse thought the needle was way to big so we went with a smaller one. Unfortunately the whole process of getting Max on the table for his shot took to long and the drug wouldn't go through the needle. He didn't cry for the first poke but he also didn't get any medicine. After some work on the sandostatin, Max got his second poke this time with medicine. This is much thicker than the lupron and, in fact, the residue on his butt afterward turned into a crusty paste pretty much right away. Needless to say he cried but not very hard and not very long. He was very brave but also thought two was enough. It took some convincing to get him to take the lupron. He was already tired so there were a few more tears but again nothing too bad. I was amazed that he didn't even say anything for the first poke so I was very proud of him.
It was at this point that angry Max came out and started to lecture me about many things so we headed home. Thankfully he fell asleep. He's on the couch now but I suspect, as does Tracy, that he'll be home tomorrow because he just can't go to school that angry. On Thursday he and I head back to CHOP for his eyes and to talk to his oncologist about the MRI and how things are going. Max will need blood work in two weeks to see how the Sandostatin is doing and then he'll be on monthly injections of both drugs for a while.
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