I'll start with the celebrating. That happened last night (Saturday). And you guys, what a blast. And just an honor and blessing to be able to walk at Light the Night for our second year, surrounded by friends and family. Ethan danced and played and walked and danced some more! It was so much fun and we came home with full hearts, thankful to get to surround Ethan with love and cheers and encouragement.
It was actually during the end of Light the Night that Ethan started complaining of some ear pain. We got home and I gave him some pain meds, and he had a slightly elevated temperature, but not a true "fever" by definition, and so we were fine to watch him at home. This morning at 4:30am, his temperature had spiked to 101.8 and so we headed to the ER.
My last update on the blog was 2 weeks ago, when his counts had gone down and his oral chemo had been put on hold. On Wed 9/16 he was able to have his scheduled IV chemo and intrathecal chemo at the hospital, and because his hemoglobin had dropped, he also received a blood transfusion. His oral chemo was able to be restarted this past Monday because his ANC went up, but because his oral dose of chemo is so high, they had us scheduled to get labs again in a week or two, just to make sure he didn't become neutropenic again.
Which brings us to today. Because Ethan spiked a fever this morning, we of course had to head to the ER, where we typically have labs and cultures drawn, and Ethan will get a dose of 24-hour antibiotic and then we are sent home, as long as his counts are high enough.
Today we started down that path but things changed quickly. That's the thing about this journey you guys: things can change so very quickly.
The way Ethan's vital signs were showing, the ER team felt that he could very likely have a blood infection and possibly could be going into septic shock. We spent several hours in the ER while the team went through their protocol and then we were transferred to the PICU so that Ethan could be more closely monitored. Thankfully, Ethan's vital signs had started to stabilize right when we arrived in the PICU and so after spending the day there under close monitoring, we were able to be transferred to the Hematology/Oncology floor this evening and Ethan is sleeping soundly now.
The plan now is to continue a heavy course of IV antibiotics and his team will monitor his cultures for any signs of bacterial growth. His oral chemo is again put on hold until his counts recover. He will likely have to be admitted for at least 48 hours while they monitor his cultures, and we will likely go home on IV antibiotics as well.
But, he is much improved from this morning, and for that we are so very thankful.
Ethan's friends and sweet Eloise helped to make this sign for him today - it's hanging up in our hospital room here, a great reminder of our beloved TEAM ETHAN -- all of you, who are willing to pray and help and be there with and for us as we walk this road.
Here are our specific prayer requests tonight:
-Please pray for Ethan's body to be healed from whatever infection or bacteria or illness is present.
-Please pray for his counts to recover
-Please pray for rest for Ethan and me as we get used to being admitted to the hospital again (It's been over a year since we've done this!)
-Please pray for protection from anxiety and fear
-Please pray for sweet Eloise to feel cared for and loved well
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