Home?

I arrived this morning to find Timothy in good spirits, his counts are great, and the fever is gone. Horray! The nurse said he has a 50/50 chance of going home today but it depends on how many days he needs the antibiotics. I'll keep you posted...

Back to the hospital we go...

I know, I know... I haven't updated the blog lately and so many of you are in dire straights just waiting in anticipation! Well... here it is...

The reason I haven't updated lately is because we got home from chemo Friday, stayed at my parent's that night, moved, the house wasn't quite done, I had no computer, I was crazy busy unpacking and trying to find everything all the while I was trying to take care of a grumpy boy and a very boisterous girl who insists on putting on her princess dress from the moment she wakes until bedtime! Not to mention, Tim had a borderline fever Monday at clinic that we were keeping an eye on. He was very not himself and not sleeping. Tuesday morning he had a fever so we called the hospital and they said to bring him in b/c his counts were on the way down and he could have been neutropenic and therefore prone to illness. So we headed back to Hamilton, got checked and since they couldnt figure a reason for the fever, they wanted to admit Timothy until they could get the swabs back to check for bacterial infection. But... no beds. They did some IV antibiotics in the clinic right there and Tim was able to get one hour of sleep (all day!). Grandma Vera came to pick up Kate since we had to be there a while or stay indefinitely. Kate is such a trooper. Never knowing if she is coming or going or where she will be going that day. At least she really enjoys Grandma's house and she doesn't cry when she has to leave me. Who knew a 3 year old could know how to "be strong" like that. This all must be quite hard on her and I feel so bad that I can't be with her more. But you gotta do what you gotta do I guess.



Anyways, we waited for a bed and were told we may have to go home (which I didn't feel right about since we are 40 minutes away). I once again felt displaced and shed a few tears in the clinic, still trying to be strong. Then, wouldn't you know it, God provided, just in time, and a bed opened up in 3C, which is just down the hall. He has a private room right now b/c he is still in isolation.

He had to have his first transfusion today since his hemoglobin went down to 63 and with each round of chemo, the body has a tougher and tougher time recovering. He his hooked up to all kinds of wires and blood and stuff. His IV became disconnected today when moving him from the highchair to the bed and it was leaking on to the floor. It was a good thing I saw it b/c his blood started travelling down the tube and out and he could have bled out! Yipes!

Well... that's about it for now. We appreciate your prayers, especially now as this is an unexpected hospital admittance we weren't mentally prepared for. And they won't say how long we will be in, but likely until the end of the week or more.



Blessings!

Shauna

p.s. I enjoy reading the comments people write on the blog, so thanks for those!

What a week it has been so far... and it is only Wednesday! Monday we had clinic in the morning which showed that Tim's counts were good enough to begin round three of chemo. Then we drove back home, dropped Timothy at Grandma Jessie's house (Kate went to Grandma Vera's on Sunday night.) She said good-bye to her room and the house before she left and she didn't seem to care at all that she would never be back. I suppose it may not register in her little mind entirely but she does know a lot more than we think. Anyways, after I dropped Tim off I went to check on the house to see if they needed me to direct packing stuff. They seemed to have that under control so I headed to the new house to label my kitchen cabinets with little post-it notes so that the movers would know where I wanted stuff and so that I would have at least some knowledge of where things were when I returned. It was a very emotional day as I felt displaced, homeless and un-needed.

We ate supper at Ken's parents and then I headed out to check in to the hospital and Ken went back to the house to install towel bars. He is trying to run his business, move, finish all the unfinished stuff, disassemble his computer network, pack the office, babysit about 50 trades, reassemble the network and get it all running again to make sure payroll can be done by today. What a guy! He has such stamina, I don't know how he does it. But last night he called me from our new bathtub at 11:00pm while sipping on some Bailey's to celebrate, and it looks like it is all coming together at last! Horray Ken!

Anyways, Tim was a different person once they started the drugs. He became quite aggressive, couldn't sleep and was looking pretty doped up by the end of the day. Kate and Gramma came to visit and it was nice to spend an hour playing with Kate while Gramma visited Timothy.

Well...today's another day. Hopefully he won't be feeling so yucky and will be able to sleep. Please pray for patience for us all.

Waiting for Round Three...

Well... the time just keeps on flying by here in sunny St. George as we await round three of chemo next week and also MOVING! Timothy will go into the hospital Monday night and then have 3 days of treatment, and when we return, we will have to go to a different house! Very weird. It is a little nerve wracking that people are going to move all our stuff and I won't even get to be there! I hope all goes well...

Tim is having a better week as in the last week, counts go back up, he gets to stop his GCS-F drug and clinic visits are once a week instead of twice. We have still been keeping him mainly at home but we take trips to the new house and we got to go to Grandma Vera's for thanksgiving.

Oh... he just woke up... I guess this will be a short update. Bye for now!

Giving Thanks

As of yesterday, Tim was officially neutropenic for the first time as his white blood cells were 0.4. This means that any little germ could make him spike a fever and he would have to be admitted to the hospital since this would be life-threatening. His hemoglobin was borderline low but I suggested to wait on a transfusion because last time it had gone up on its own. All day yesterday Tim was pale and yelling and seemed frustrated. He went to bed at 5:30 pm and slept until 6:20 am! Then he was still sleepy today so I took him in for a check, prepared for a 4-hour blood infusion. And guess what? His hemoglobin was up to normal and his white cells came up too! Horray! No infusion! I suppose his fatigue was just a side-effect of the chemo. And now we can go to my parents' for thanksgiving as long as they are not sick! Thank you God!


(we still have to be careful as his counts could come back down... but at least we can be at peace about it this weekend.)


We are looking forward to turkey and the great outdoors! I can't wait!





Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We sure have a lot to be thankful for!

A Roller-Coaster Week

Hi everyone. This week brought a few tougher days and I didn't want to update the blog while things were a little rough around here. This past round of chemo was rather hard on poor little Timothy as three heavy-duty drugs were given over three hours. Tim felt really yucky during and after the chemo. He has been quite noxious and has been throwing up a lot more. (This including but not limited to throwing up right in front of the elevator at the hospital on the way to a clinic check-up all down his cute little outfit and into the buggy... Yummy. And I do not do well with puke.)

Anyways, today was kind of a whiny, clingy day where he didn't want to sleep or eat and is a lovely shade of green. Please pray for strength for our family as we go thru this difficult patch. Especially as we are moving in 2 weeks and trying to pack and get things ready with 2 stir-crazy kids. It's hard for Kate to not play with her friends and she has been talking about them a lot and missing them. Becky Hum. came over today to help with packing and it was nice to have some help and some company! And nice for Tim too to have someone to flirt with!

Yesterday was a really amazing day as my Grandpa (aka Diedushka) came over to the house. At 84 years of age, he flew all the way from B.C. to come to the 100th anniversary of the Russian church in Toronto. He was (and still is!) a minister and he came to the house to do a blessing ceremony for Timothy. He did a short message about James 5:13-18 which says;

The Prayer of Faith

13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

Then Diedushka put olive oil on Timothy's head to represent the Holy Spirit covering him. He asked God that His will would be done, whether He choses to heal Timothy or not, that this whole situtation would bring glory to God in some way even if we do not understand it. Then we all sang the old hymn, "Hallelujah, Thine the Glory". Man, were the tears a flowin'! What a powerful, awesome day. I have never seen anything quite like it.

Diedushka also mentioned how when he had his heart-attack 3 years ago and he was laying on the table, he said to God, "Lord, if there's anything else you need me to do, I will do it. If not, you can take me home". Then yesterday he said to Ken and I that God kept him alive all this time just so he could do this today for Timothy. Wow. That's all I have to say.