Feeling the effects of Chemo

The Doxorubicin and Cisplatin chemo treatments from October 13-14 are showing their side effects. Jordan was discharged on Saturday, October 15th following the treatment. He went to school Mon-Wed. Fall break was on Thursday and Friday. There was a delayed effect from the chemo as Jordan started to have some nausea on Thursday, followed by terrible mucositis (mouth sores). They hurt so much, it made it difficult for Jordan to talk, eat, drink. On Saturday night, he had a fever of 101.2 so we were admitted back at the hospital.

Jordan's blood counts get checked regularly (every Monday/Thursday when not getting treatment). They are expected to drop, which they did. The mouth sores need white blood cells to help them heal, which he has a minimal supply of right now. Once we were admitted on Saturday night, they started him on an antibiotic to combat the infection (per the fever) and fluids. His fever broke early Sunday morning, which is good. He is just in so much pain from the mouth sores.

We are now building strategies for pain management so he can get some food and liquids into his body on his own. This seems to be working, although his pain is still pretty bad, it is getting better. His blood counts are starting to creep up slightly, which is expected and promising. His platelet levels are low and he is battling nose bleeds too (keeping an eye on this). Our main focus is his sores and making sure he has a healthy caloric intake.

This is a bump in the road for us, and a challenging one. It's so hard to see him hurting so much and his frustrations with being back in the hospital. He is getting tougher by the day, learning how to navigate the pain and the frustrations. We hope for him to be home tomorrow (Tuesday).

Meanwhile, Dan and Sami enjoyed a few days of well-deserved fun in Moab with some friends over the fall break. They came home Saturday night, missed us by about 1 hour. Dan came to the hospital on Sunday afternoon to relieve me and spend some time with his boy. We are making it work and so fortunate for the love and support we have to make it work.

Thank you for those that have been praying for him, reaching out, cooking us yummy meals, etc. We could never get through this without you.