Chemotherapy Cycle Four: February 27, 2020

I honestly didn’t realize that two weeks have passed since my last update. My apologies, and my only excuses are that life comes at you fast, and exhaustion is real. We have also been having major issues with our laptop (thanks, Mercury retrograde!) which has put quite the damper on my productivity.

Overall, things have been pretty much the same since Chemo Cycle 3 — although vomiting has certainly become a more normalized part of this experience now. Jack had approximately 16 vomiting episodes since my last update...poor guy. Of course we have been keeping nausea medications on rotation to assist with symptoms, but chemotherapy is quite the beast and not for the faint of heart! It is apparent that he is beginning to feel the full effects of cancer treatment and chemotherapy, but is still such a trooper. His appetite has almost completely diminished at this point, but we gratefully still have his feeding tube to keep him fed and hydrated throughout the day. He is definitely not feeling well during these two-week treatment cycles but seems to be hanging strong on most days.

His fourth cycle of chemotherapy started on February 27th, and his oncology team decided to keep us in the hospital for 2.5 days to monitor his symptoms and to administer additional medications to help combat the nausea. Jack had two vomiting episodes while in the hospital and a few since returning home.

Jackson also had another CT scan completed while in the hospital to assess the progression and effectiveness of the cancer treatments on his liver tumors, but we have not yet been notified of the results. We are still hoping that once his pediatric surgeon reviews the scans, he will feel confident to move forward with surgically resecting (removing) the two tumors In his liver.

In the meantime, we will be meeting with a liver transplant team in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for a consultation in the case that Jack has to have his surgical resection performed there or needs a full liver transplant. Liver transplants are extremely complex procedures that are only performed at a small number of hospitals nationwide. Pittsburgh is considered one of the top transplant hospitals, so his oncology team were eager to send him there. We honestly checked into options closer to home and Charlotte and our home state of Tennessee (with hopes of being closer to family) but no options were available. We have never been to Pittsburgh, so if you have any food or general tourist suggestions, comment below and let us know!

We were also sitting in the audiologist’s office as I was originally drafting up this post, and Jackson was having his third hearing test completed. Some of you may remember me mentioning in a previous post about us finding out at his last audiology appointment that Jack was suffering from permanent high pitch hearing loss. This is a direct result of the anticipated side effects of his Cisplatin chemo medication. We were anxious to know via follow-up assessments whether additional hearing loss has occurred. Results showed that Jackson’s hearing loss has not gotten worse over the past months, however he will still need hearing aids. It is also possible that his hearing loss could progressively become worse as treatment continues & afterwards, but we are praying that his hearing is not further affected. We will begin the process of getting fitted for hearing aids & being linked to additional therapies to support overall hearing and language development.

Sending love to you all. Until next time...