Treatment

Ty's treatment was on the 27th, and now that everybody including me is over the stomach flu I have time to do a little post about it.  But first things first...Ty had a fantastic Christmas

He got some skylander jammies which he quickly changed into.  

 He did a back-hand-spring spotted by mommy for the talent show

 He got to be a shepherd

And at Kindergarten he made the cutest snowman ornament I've ever seen

Clinic was normal, we hooked him up to video games, they accessed his port, took blood for CBC, gave him his vincristine and we talked to the doc for a few minutes.  He wasn't feeling the greatest, told me he had a tummy ache when he got up that morning, and didn't eat much on the way or after.  That actually isn't that unusual so I didn't think much of it, he was still happy and playing and didn't seem ill.  He threw up on the way home... 

Yep, I took a picture of it, that's me driving, holding his bag of barf.  I did eventually dispose of it, but had to take a picture to show dad since he didn't get to come this time.  Really really thankful we had a barf bag with us.  Later that evening while we were at his Grandma's house playing with cousins he threw up again, after eating several gogurts and drinking lots of water.  That's when I wondered if he actually had something instead of just feeling nauseous from chemo.  At Grandma's house we cleaned it up with lots and lots of Lysol wipes...only to find out later that Norovirus, which is what we suspect he must have had, is immune to Lysol wipes.  Needless to say it spread to the cousins like wildfire, even cousins who were taking a plane ride home and though we will never know for sure where it came from, we are glad that we now know for the stomach flu you use bleach and Lysol brand III disinfectant spray cause Lysol wipes and Clorox wipes don't kill it.  It is crazy how it hit everybody differently, Ty didn't fever and didn't seem sick, some of his siblings and I did get a fever with it along with other unpleasant symptoms, and some people only got a bad stomach ache.  I know, I know, too much information.

Anyway he weighed 19.3 kg (42.5 lbs) and is 105.5 which I think is a little shorter than last time so not much progress in the growth or weight category.  ANC 1500, WBC 3.1, RBC 4.11, HCT 35.5, HGB 11.8, PLTS 222.  So the doc we talked to said he would like to see his ANC more like around 800 but he could see why Ty's normal onc is careful about raising his meds because of the invasive fungal infection he had several months ago.  He said it is super rare to have that kind of infection during maintenance.  I was surprised and thankful he read that far back into Tyson's chart before he came in to talk to us.  It is so nice when people take the time to be thorough and pay attention specifically to his needs.  We are so so thankful for the medical care he has received and so thankful for his oncologist.  I imagine it is not the easiest profession in the world for many different reasons which makes me even more thankful for the people who dedicate their lives to it. 
On a side note, I just finished reading "The Emperor of All Maladies" A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee and it was a very informative, very good read and written in a way that 'normal' people can understand.  If you would like to know more about cancer in general I highly recommend this book instead of the bunk that is going around the internet.  If you see a "truth about cancer by Johns Hopkins" article be aware that is it not really from Johns Hopkins and that there is a lot more to cancer than positive thoughts and good nutrition.  I know lots of cancer mommies who are offended that people think good nutrition and positive thoughts would have prevented their child from getting cancer.  I just think people like to believe that stuff cause it makes them less fearful of the beast.