Moved to PICU....

I just found out from Diane that Cody was moved from his room to the Pediatric ICU early this morning. He keeps getting fever, chills and blood pressure problems...

I'll keep you posted....

Diane called me at lunch. They are now getting more concerned. They have him on medication for his blood pressure and it seems to be giving him an irregular heart beat. They want to get blood and platelets on board in hopes that his blood pressure comes back up.

Thank you for the prayers.

I don't want to leave you all hanging but I also didn't want to speak too soon. Cody has not had a fever since yesterday evening. Unfortunately you all know he had other things going on. The combination of major chills and high temps all pointed to septic shock. Since he got platelets and blood this afternoon his blood pressure has held it's own. The medicine Dopamine (Spelling) that is used to raise his blood pressure gave him an irregular heartbeat. They were able to take him off it after the platelets. Actually now his temp is running a little low. It’s just one thing after another with the poor little guy. As long as we don’t hit anymore hurdles through the night, we may get out of PICU. We really need to see his blood start to recover. It should happen any day…

I would like to thank all of you for the continued prayers and support.

Some good, some not so good...

Well this morning about 5am he had his first BM in 2 days. It was definitely not solid but I was happy to see things moving as long as they don't move too much... If you know what I mean.. His hi temps came back last night but not as high as it had been for the past few days. It got up to about 101 at 9pm and again at 4am this morning. The poor little guy just can't catch a break. They are starting to it may possibly be viral. If that is the case they will have to wait for his system to recover. Overall the doctor is pleased that he seems to be heading in the right direction.

I'll write more later.....

It's noon and things are not much better. He is napping now and his temps continue to climb. I feel so bad for him. He keeps taking his meds and he just can't get on top of this thing. The next move may be Motrin. I'll have to wait and see what the doctor says.

I also just spoke to the surgeon who removed his tumors the first time. He said as far as the surgery goes they will probably do it down here. He says that they have some of the best liver transplant doctors around. But, he also said that he was told that Cody is not a candidate for a liver transplant because his cancer has returned. To me this is one little hint that the outlook does not look good for Cody. Again this is beginning to give me that helpless feeling. There has got to be a better way to treat kids with cancer. Nothing works for sure and yet you have to try and reassure your child that he or she is going to get better. I can't help but feel like a liar.

I'll keep you updated...

Fever still high.....

I just talked to Diane and she said that Cody's fever is still very high. They just gave him Tylenol and his temp is @ 103.7. He's had Morphine this morning also for his stomach pain. On a good note he has not had a BM since Sunday night. You may think that isn't good news but since he's been having diarrhea we are glad that has stopped. I think he is starting to turn the corner on this latest chemo treatment. Now we are hoping they get the right antibiotic soon. These high temps are not good.

I'll write more later...


Well it's 7pm here and things are starting to look a little better. "Knock on wood!" Cody's temp has been down since this afternoon. They started to give him "the big gun", Vancomycin. This the one that when it's given to him too quickly he's gets what is called "Red Man's Syndrome." They have started to administer it over a much longer time. They took him down for scans today because they started to worry that he may have blockage or swollen intestines. He continues to have abdominal pains and needs Morphine to help relieve the pain. His scans came back negative and the doctor is pleased with her exam of his tummy. His blood counts are very low so we will be here until his system recovers and he stays fever free.

Thanks for stopping by.....

Back at Georgetown..

Well Cody's temp started to go up again last night. So around 11pm we headed in. They had a room ready for us when we got here. He is in pretty bad shape right now so I'm actually glad to be here. He hasn't eaten much of anything for days so he doesn't have enough energy to walk. He still has diarrhea but doesn't have anything in his stomach to get rid of. They have started a whole spectrum of antibiotics last night. We will be here until at least Friday. He needs to go on IV feeding again. He can't eat and his body has nothing left to use as fuel. If there is any new info I will be sure to update.

Thanks for reading.....

It's 11:30am and we had to give him some morphine. He is having some very bad abdominal pains. I hope he starts feeling better soon.

Well it's 4pm and things are not much better. Cody's temp went up to 103.3. We had to give him more morphine and Tylenol. We are also using cold wrags on the head. On the good side he hasn't any diarrhea today "knock on wood".

Never a dull moment....

Yesterday was a pretty quiet day for the most part. Cody definitely felt under the weather. His diarrhea is still hanging on. Even with the Imodian AD. He spent the day laying on the couch and being held. He is now complaining of pain in his knees and some of the joints in his hands. We are not quite sure what is causing this. This is one of the chemo drugs side effects but it should have shown earlier than this. The GCSF that we give him can also cause this but he has had GCSF after every round of chemo and this has never happened before. Last night about 9pm he started getting a fever. It was teetering between the upper 37s and 38. 38 degrees Celsius is the magic number but since it kept going down a little and never went above that the doctor said "keep him at home." We may be heading in today, we will have to wait and see. The poor little guy still isn't eating. He ate 4 chicken nuggets yesterday. We were hoping that his appetite was coming back. Friday night when they got home he ate a half of a cheeseburger before he went to bed. We will see this morning. When I was laying in bed this morning I could hear his stomach growling. One more little twist, before bed last night he vomited after being given the Imodian AD. If he can no longer stomach this I'm not sure what we are going to do.

Keep praying please....