We checked Jackson back into the hospital on January 30, 2020 to begin cycle two of his chemotherapy. Before arriving to the hospital, we had an appointment at the St. Jude Affiliate Clinic to check his blood counts and ensure that his lab work deemed him healthy enough to begin treatment. Luckily our St. Jude Clinic is directly across the street from the children's hospital, so we headed that way once being cleared to begin round two of treatment. We were told that medical staff was ready and waiting on our arrival.
We arrived to the children’s hospital around 9:30 am to be “checked” into a room. You know you frequent the hospital when you arrive as if you are checking into a hotel and all the medical staff recognizes your child by name. It's an odd feeling, yet still so reassuring to be greeted with smiles and staff that are genuinely excited to see Jack.
After becoming settled in his hospital room, doctors and nurses began submitting orders for his chemotherapy medications and began administering pre-treatment medications via IV in his chemo port. This cycle took about 24 hours from start to finish, beginning with pre-treatment protocols, 3 hours of pre-treatment hydration via IV, 6 hours of the actual chemotherapy medication (cisplatin), and then 12 hours of follow-up rehydration and monitoring. We arrived at the hospital at 9:30 am and were released the following day, around 1:30 pm.
To no surprise, Jackson’s pediatric oncologist stated that he did a truly amazing job coping with the chemo treatment, and even added that he handles his treatments better than majority of patients that she has worked with during her career. I have no idea how he does it!
Once we arrived home and got Jack settled in, we continued administering antibiotic and nausea medications to help alleviate side effects as much as possible. So far, Jack has been experiencing mild vomiting episodes almost daily and a drastic loss of appetite. He has lost approximately 2 pounds since beginning treatment, so we are diligently trying to prevent excessive weight loss by feeding him through his gastronomy feeding tube (g-tube), which feeds fluids directly into his stomach via a g-tube port that was surgically placed while he was still in the NICU. We have followed-up with his St. Jude team since treatment, and he has received all good reports on how his body is currently coping post-treatment.
We also had an follow-up audiology appointment yesterday, where Jackson completed about 2 hours of extensive hearing evaluations. The Cisplatin chemotherapy medication is known to affect hearing, and permanent hearing loss is a known side effect of the drug. Jack is already beginning to experience hearing loss in high-pitch ranges, which was devastating to hear while still in such early stages of his cancer treatment. If hearing loss progresses, then we will begin discussions regarding hearing aids and future treatment planning. As a parent, it is difficult to accept that our child may have to add yet another disability to his long list of long-term medical concerns. Tears were shed, can’t even lie, but we will get through it just like everything else. We will have a follow-up evaluation completed in about a month to assess for additional damage.
I think that’s all for now. More updates soon...
