Thad's page updated December 24th, 2007
The Third Cycle
Thad's third cycle began on December 10th with a lumbar puncture followed by a series of intravenous and oral drugs. By this time Thad had lost his hair, but remained in very good spirits.
This is also an "induction cycle." After this cycle Thad was scheduled for a full evaluation. This involved not only blood work but an MRI of his entire spine. This took place on Thursday, December 20th at a hospital in Guilford near his doctor's oncology practice.
This procedure was very unpleasant. The MRI table is cold and hard, the huge machine is deafeningly loud, and Thad had to sit motionless inside of it for an hour (the MRI machine resembles a huge donut, with the patient lying in the "donut hole").
Thad was experiencing some back pain, and we later learned that he was beginning to get a fever. But he stuck it out , which was very brave.
click for Thad's THANKSGIVING
PICTURES
Thad, like many a young man, believes that anything can be made with Duct Tape. On December 22nd, Adam, a lifetime member of the Duct Tape Hall of Fame, introduced Thad to the higher arts of his craft. He showed Thad how to make a wallet completely out of this magic substance.
This cycle was rougher than the first two. Thad is beginning to show cumulative effects of the repeated treatments. He is often tired and can do little but sleep, and this frustrates him. He also gets grumpy easily. His weakened condition also makes it more difficult to tell when he is getting sick from secondary infections.
We all had a tremendous scare when I brought him home from his MRI in Guilford. He slept all the way home. When I carried him in from the car, he felt hot to the touch. Sure enough, in that short time he had run a slight fever. The thermometer read 101.
Should his temperature rise above 100.4 degrees, his doctors have instructed us in no uncertain terms to get him straight to the hospital. So we turned right around and brought Thad to Yale-New Haven Children's emergency room. He was getting sicker on the way there, and just after the exit into New Haven, we had to stop at the roadside because he had to throw up.. He was admitted immediately and seemed to stabilize quickly, but by nightfall his fever climbed again. During a routine chest X-ray he was beginning to shake, and when they checked his temperature it had risen to 104.7. Thad came within a hair's breadth of going into shock. . He was sent immediately into the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. After a blood transfusion and a battery of antibiotics he stabilized again.
This is the most dangerous phase of Thad's cycle. He is " neutropenic," meaning that his blood counts are reaching rock bottom as these cells--along with all fast-dividing cells in his body--succumb to the onslaught of chemo-drugs. He is not only anemic, he has almost no white blood cells. His "white counts" would normally be in the thousands, but by Wednesday before his fever this count had fallen to 12. This means he is as good as defenseless against even trivial infections, the kind that any normal child would shake off with a runny nose and a good night's sleep.
Luckily, we got him to the hospital on time for this round. Thad's Grandparents have come into town for the holidays are are here to help us with his care.
GOOD NEWS!
In the hospital we received wonderful news when the oncologists presented the evidence from Thad's follow up MRI. There is now no evidence of the tumors which had almost crippled him in October. This may not mean that the cancer is all gone. There may still be cells which we cannot see, and the MRI is a relatively blunt instrument. Although it takes images of 5 -8 mm "slices" of the human body, it cannot see down to the cellular level or do much chemical analysis. Nevertheless, this is great news. It means that Thad's cancer is responding quickly to the treatment and his outlook is good. It also means that Thad is no longer suffering from the cancer per se; he is sick due to the treatment.
On the other hand, we received word on Dec. 23rd that Thad can return home for Christmas. He is to be discharged today, Christmas Eve Day before lunch. He will have to continue to have IV anti-biotics at home, and we will be learning how to administer these drugs this afternoon from a special pharmacy company called Collins IV.
Home on Christmas Eve!
Thad returned home on Christmas Eve in time to enjoy the holidays with his family. His Fourth Cycle was scheduled to begin on December 31st, but since his birthday is January 1st, the doctors agreed to start on the 2nd, so that he could also have his birthday at home.
Thad turned 9 years old on New Years Day. He requested Who Pudding for his "birthday cake" from the Green Eggs & Ham Cookbook which Maren's mother gave Meg and Thad for Christmas last year. (Don't tell the Grinch but it is mostly tapioca pudding.)
Here's Maren, Christine Clarke, Nick Pyati, and Jennifer Keighley, who came in to visit Thad Monday evening. They brought Thad some new goodies and played some very sophisticated rounds of Guess Who? The best questions included "Does your guy look like he votes in municipal elections?" and "Is your guy playing footsie with someone?"
