our son's journey: Weathering Another Storm-12

So we came back to the hospital on October 7th. It was pure bliss being at home, we just really relaxed and enjoyed having us all together under the same roof all at the same time. It felt so wonderful to be a family and to feel "normal" again. It only made it all the more harder to return back to the hospital when the time came. We were told to expect the full treatment of chemo to take at least one year or 6-10 cycles total. We had a check up on our days off and our doctor was very happy with Jeremy's progress thus far, in terms of the cancer, things were moving in the right direction. So there was a light at the end of the tunnel, we had a plan in place finally.

The day started at 1015 in the oncology clinic. His bloodwork to determine whether his body was "ready for chemo" was completed the day before. Basically they check to make sure that all of Jeremy's counts are up so that he will be able to fight the chemo once it starts to destroy his body. Prehydration started right away and chemo followed shortly after. After a long day in the clinic, we headed upstairs to be admitted to a hospital room by 630pm. As soon as we came upstairs, we noticed something was not right with Jeremy. His breathing was off and his chest looked weird (he was indrawing). To put our suspicions to rest, Jeremy had a stat x-ray and it was concluded that he once again had a pneumothorax. In went another chest tube that was only just removed 12 days prior. Down this path again!!!

Another bit of excitement; when they did the x-ray of his chest, they also noted that Jeremy's PICC line had migrated! And it was determined that although Jeremy could still receive fluids through this line, getting chemo through it was out of the question. Jeremy received 2 out of the 3 chemo meds on day two and then this round was put on hold until a central line could be put in. On the 10th of October Jeremy was put under sedation yet again to have a CVC (central venous catheter inserted). This line was inserted in a vein in Jeremy's neck and was tunneled under his skin to protrude, because he was so small, in the middle of his chest. There were two lumens, so that one could be used for chemo and the other for medication. Jeremy's lines were so long because the surgeon wanted to allow for enough room for his body to grow with them. Good thing Jeremy was not yet at the age where he was wanting to grab anything and everything. I had seen and spoken to many parents whose kids had yanked out their lines because they were playing with them! After the line was inserted and placement was verified, chemo was resumed.

Jeremy's Gerbera given to him from his second cousin Heather, was in full bloom in the garden outside our bedroom window. It was a constant reminder that like this flower, we had to put up a great fight and weather all storms.

There was hope that because this pneumothorax appeared spontaneously, it would disappear just as fast. The doctors tried to turn off the suction, and to no avail, it persisted and didn't give Jeremy a break for two months!! In order to make this at least a little bit tolerable, Jeremy was put on continuous morphine and also Cefazolin, an antibiotic, to prevent infection in his skin from the chest tube. Jeremy received numerous chest x-rays, in hopes this pneumothorax would take care of itself, but it was tenacious and would not budge. Therefore, a surgeon came up with a plan to surgically repair Jeremy's lung in hopes that his body would be able to get rid of the pneumothorax.

On October 26th, Jeremy was put under sedation to complete a thoracotomy (an incision into the pleural space of the chest). The surgeon found two "bubbles/air blebs", one in his upper right lobe and one in the middle right lobe. She sealed these off and also sent a piece of skin tissue from this area to rule out any cancer that could be in his lungs. She then rubbed the wall of his pleural cavity to roughen it up to create a seal so that the pneumothorax would not be able to reoccur. This was a major procedure, and as usual, Jeremy handled it like a champ. Then of course they did daily chest x-rays to make sure that his chest was okay and that we were able to keep any more pneumothoracies at bay. On November 1st after determining that the pneumothorax had finally resolved, they once again removed the chest tube and sent us home on a pass for a few hours. Although Jeremy had been once again tied to the hospital wall literally, the month of October wasn't all bad. Life, thankfully still carried on and we were eventually able to overcome another hurdle.

Jeremy was progressing and changing from an infant to a baby. He was laughing and "talking" to everyone and anything whether they were listening or not. He just loved people and anytime anyone would pay him any attention, they would get a humongous toothless grin. He was also grabbing lots of things and loved to spend time in his vibrating chair or on his play mat.
Another really big day was October 19th. Addison Jane Martens entered our world at 0130 in the morning, weighing a mere 6 pounds and 11 ounces. Unfortunately Jeremy was unable to meet his brand new cousin right away, but Chloe, Brent and I went to visit her at the hospital to say hello and to welcome her into our lives. She was beautiful and perfect. Now Jeremy would have a buddy like Chloe has Owen.
And of course on October 31st, we celebrated Halloween. How can you not with two 2 year olds in your house? Nana stayed at the hospital with Jeremy so that Brent and I could take Chloe out for her big night.