Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Day 229

 
WOW!!!
Did I read that right? 229? I can't believe it's been so long since my last update. I am ashamed.
 
A lot has been happening with Carter since my last update. I started writing a very long and drawn out version of what happened, but I'll try to keep it short.
 
I believe I updated everyone when Carter got food poisoning.
We had two other instances where Carter had to be hospitalized for about a week each due to diarrhea and vomiting.
 
The first time was the worst. He was very dehydrated by the time I got him in and had somehow gone into septic shock. His BP dropped, he had a fever and they admitted him to the ICU. Worst. Moment. Ever. His doctor looked at me and said, "he's really sick. This is one of the life threatening complications that can follow transplant." Let's just say I was praying in ways I didn't know I could pray.
 
I learned a valuable lesson that night in the ICU. It's not over until it's over. You can't live in defeat or the fear of defeat when the battle is still underway or else you kill yourself. As I prayed I felt like I needed to just support him and not give up on him. Thank God he pulled through and was doing better by the next morning. They had to give him a special epi-type medicine to boost his BP while in the ICU. To give him this med they had to start an IV in his wrist and do two stitches to hold it in place. Carter was an absolute champ that whole time.
 
The next time we were hospitalized, which was sadly like two days later, it was for pretty much the same thing. They did a scope and colonoscopy and found out that Carter has a lovely colon and stomach, but had irritation near the bottom of his esophagus that is consistent with reflux. The doc thinks his stomach was still very sensitive after his food poisoning and that caused him to react to bacteria he might have ingested from week old watermelon, one boiled peanut, or a pasta dish.
 
We had to start watching better what he ate. It's been a few weeks since then and we haven't had any episodes. Fingers crossed. The cool thing is that his biopsies they did during the scope and colonoscopy showed no graft vs host. So we continue to dodge that bullet. Counts continue to be good and I'm happy to report that not only is he scheduled to have his line taken out this Thursday but he will also be attending summer camp next week. He also turns 9 on the 29th.
 
Things are going great. Carter continues enjoying playing Minecraft, basketball, and UNO. We are really excited for him to be able to start swimming again soon.
 
Happy summer!