Lingo

Rock star is still rocking this chemo round. We are amazed at how well he is eating and drinking this time. We will never know if this has been easier because it has been dose reduced this time or if the radiation last time made it so brutal. We just pray that when we come home he does not get another infection.

I laugh at how clueless we were when this started. We truly minimized a weekly chemo dose and thought it would be a breeze! What a joke now that we are walking this path. Chemo is not for sissies. Yes it can take away those awful cancer cells, but it is basically toxic poisons that can create a whole host of other issues.

So I was talking with another momma here on the floor and we started giggling that canncer has it's own lingo so I thought I would share!

Neutrapenic- this is when David' white blood cell count is so low that hisbody cannot fight infection. Tis round of chemo is meant to make him neutrapenic and wipe out all fast growing cells. Sadly chemo is not sophsticated enough to only go after cancer cells, so it must go after all fast growing cells such as white blood cells and hair cells. The G shots will help his body produce more white blood cells to bring his levels backup so he will not be neutrapenic.

"making counts" this is referring to his white blod cells returning to normal so that the next round of chemo can stay on schedule. Davids chemo regimen is intense so his white blood cells must be back over 750 before the next round is given. Last week when Mike brought him he did not make counts for this round. It is important to make counts to stay on your regimen.

"push" vs "drips". This is how your chemo is delivered. Some of dave's are simply a push in his IV and some are long drips through his IV. David is also on Zofran every fourhoursmto keep nausea at bay.

"loved" here if a family is loved that means that we are blessed with lots of support. Sadly not all cancer warriors have the love that we have been blessed with. The nurses tell us all the time how important it is to have support. We are blessed with family that keeps the house running at home, visitors and love here when he is not neutrapenic, a parent bedside here with David, and love from you all. We feel the love and between that and our Jesus we are sustained each day here.

"the team" refers to the four pediatric oncology doctors that run this department and all their residents and interns. We like all four of them and we are so impressed with the communication between each of. They are all four competent and are always up on David's case. They are apart of the COG group which is a huge conglomeration of pediatric oncologist around the world that shares information. Protocols are set so that regardless of you are, if your doctor is part of COG then you will receive the same treatment.

Hope this post has not bored you but sometimes here we feel like we are in another world speaking a different language. Thank you for reading our blog and praying for our Rock star. We are so blessed to have the prayer warriors praying for us each and everyday as we battle this Goliath.