July 18, 2007

I’m going to title this update “Much Ado about Poo”. 🙂 Mainly because that’s what the last 3 days have been about. Trying to get Eli’s bowels moving again and to get him to go to the bathroom has been a major goal. Unfortunately, we haven’t been successful in the quest, but there is some improvement. They had Eli on a no food or drink order, but yesterday they were happy with the bowel sounds in his stomach. They had stopped altogether due to chemo, but the surgeons were worried it might be a blockage. Thankfully the sounds came back, so they don’t think that’s the case. Plus, the NG tube pulled all the bile out of Eli’s stomach and then it was just clear fluids, which was normal. That told them the intestines weren’t backing up anymore. So the good news yesterday was that the tube came out! It was good timing because this new tube was thicker and was starting to really irritate his nose. They also put him on a “clear liquids” diet and he could drink chicken and beef broth along with his coveted juice. They had some x-rays done today and were happy with what they saw. They’ve also been hearing many more bowel sounds the last two days. So as of a few minutes ago, the “no eating” ban was lifted! Eli had Mac N Cheese at his bed within minutes.
Other good news is that Eli has been more of himself the last 2 days. We’ve taken trips to the playroom and the doctors and nurses have seen plenty of smiles and heard many laughs. I actually uploaded a few videos that I took with my cell phone the last 2 days to YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/Ska4Him). Two of them are of Eli playing in the playroom and the other one is Eli singing the song of his favorite song “Tunnel” by Third Day. You can hear the entire official song by going http://www.thirdday.com/new/radio_wya_nav.htm and click Play (it’s the first song on the playlist).
You may recall he had a bacterial infection in his line. Fortunately the antibiotics appear to be doing their thing. Yesterday’s blood culture came up negative for growth, but they don’t consider it truly gone until it’s showing negative 3 days later still, so Thurs. will tell whether it’s really gone. He also has had low potassium levels, so he is on electrolytes. He is also still neutropenic, although daily getting closer and closer to “out of the danger zone” as his blood cell counts continue to rise. So visitors still have to wear masks, but that doesn’t seem to phase him.
This update could also be called “Much Ado about the Doo”. The hair loss has officially begun. He sheds on his bed like crazy. So today we borrowed some clippers and went down and buzzed it off (see new picture). That should make it cleaner and a little less traumatic when it all falls out completely. The funny thing is that they say when it grows back, it might not be what it was before. It could be curly and blonde. There is a couple on our floor with a little guy who is recovering from chemo. His mom is Asian and his father is a red head. He had dark eyes and black hair like his mom until chemo. Once it fell out and started growing back, they were surprised to see it was coming back red. It looks like they bleached it or something, but it’s just growing back different. Eli’s first comment was “I can’t do this anymore” as he tried to run his fingers through his hair. 🙂
I officially give up on trying to figure out when we’re coming home. This morning the head Oncologist said, “You realize that by the time we’re ready to send you home, it’s going to be time for Round 2 of chemo, right?” He’s right of course. Next Tuesday (7/24) starts Round Two of chemo, which is 5 days long, and if it’s anything like last time, we’ll be here for a while afterwards dealing with the affects of the chemo.