Thursday, March 5, 2009

Bumps not Welcome

Pablo's counts are creeping up! That's the good news. He still does not have an ANC, but his counts are on the rise. We will come home tomorrow and continue with his daily neupogen shots until Monday and do his IV antibiotics for nine more days. Pablo's platelets and hemoglobin were low, so he got both transfusions today. Gotta love the directed donors! Today, he received Brian's platelets and Sharla's red blood. It's so nice to know that he walks through life with a little bit of all the wonderful people that come in and donate for him. We are so grateful. He gets a kick out of it now, too. He wants to look at the bag and see the numbers and then asks, "Who is that?" He always smiles and says, "That's good." As soon as the platelets were done this morning, his energy level picked up. He ran down to the playroom and asked me for a hot cocoa from Starbucks. When I returned he came back to the room with four Mr. Potato heads and some miscellaneous parts... enough entertainment to take him through lunch.

Dr. M rounded today which was awesome. We love seeing him when we are there. We are predicting a delay for chemo, but probably not a full week. On Monday, we have to go in for the radioactive GFR kidney test. This test's results give Dr. M the formula for our next round of chemo... Carboplatin to be exact. This will be our fourth and possibly final GFR. That's another thing Dr. M spoke to me about today. 

As I requested, he spoke with all of his colleagues about the additional round of chemo that I have been bringing up in every meeting. He holds his position and has an army of amazing minds (like his) standing behind him saying that it is NOT necessary. They all feel like Pablo will have received ENOUGH chemo after this next round. He even said that if we wanted to stop now, he wouldn't put up much of a fight, but that we should complete our original road map which will end after this next round of chemo. This is hard for me, but as he also said, if we were just going to follow a straight protocol without modifications, then we could be anywhere without an oncologist. His job is to give Pablo his best plan and he has done that. As all of you know, we love our onc... really love him, like LOVE LOVE him... and we trust him and we believe that he is caring for our son and all of us, really, like we were part of his immediate family. He treats ALL of his patients like that, and we feel fortunate to have him on our team. 

With that said, Jeff and I need to go over all of this and make our final, no looking back, no regrets decision. It's time to turn it all over, people! To PABLO, to Dr. M, to the Universe and to God! All of them need to do their jobs and we need to accept our fate. We continue to have faith, hope and optimism. Pablo is ready to be done with all of this. His bumps are gone and they are not welcome to come back EVER. So, here we are today.

We continue to walk with gratitude and love for all of you through each and every day. Today is a good day.

love,
Jo Ann

5 comments:

Unknown said...

What a day for you, Jo Ann! The time is at hand, the last chemo treatment is in a few a days. Wow....
Turn it over and release...
Tons of Rush love,
xoo Lynn

Heather said...

Today is a good day and we rejoice in that for you all.For Pablo.You will be directed,you will be led,you will,in the end walk away knowing you did everything humanly possible for the love of this amazing child.With the removal of what we consider safety nets AKA:chemo,we feel as if we are walking it alone.But you know your not Jo Ann.You walk with each other,you walk with the support of family and friends and you walk with God.And He will carry you if you need it.But in the end, you know,all of this,is enough.Truly enough.Love to you all and get the heck out of there ... bask in the beauty of home and know,before long,that home will be yours,everyday,always,no looking back,eyes straight ahead towards that amazing future that awaits you all.Promise.

Anne said...

Great post JoAnn. I have smile on my face just knowing Pablo's chemo is coming to a end. I can just imagine the smile on your face!
Love to you all.
Anne

Anonymous said...

Jeff say your prayers before you go to be tonight and show Pablo how to say a thank you prayer love dad and Katie. Also this is Katie's daughter Mary just letting you know my prayers are with all of you and will be until he is strong again which WILL happen cause God is listening to all our prayers. Love you guys.

Anonymous said...

now that i am learning to use this machine i will send more words of love i wish katie