Rough night leads to rough day…

Our rock star son...

Another big dinner for our super hero!

Well, Carter woke up at 2:30am this morning and was wide awake. I tried scratching his back for an hour, lying down next to his crib and “sleeping” for an hour. Finally, we brought him in bed with us at 4:30am and he finally fell asleep on Mom (and baby brother-to-be) at 5am. Of course, Bennett woke up and started our already rough morning at 6:30am. Carter was pretty irritable, and finally warmed up a bit and was playing with Bennett. And all of a sudden, Bennett came into our room and said, “What the heck, Carter just handed me this.” It was Carter’s biopatch. Matt and I had looks of horror. Carter had pulled down or scratched at his Tegaderm and somehow got out the biopatch which is sitting at the base of his central IV line. This is supposed to be the most sterile area on Carter because it goes directly into his vein to his heart. Matt and I don’t even breathe when it is exposed during cleanings. Needless to say, we had to do a dressing change. And of course, we were out of some supplies which we were getting in the mail today from Walgreen’s home care. Luckily, Matt improvised with some gauze and tape and did the job. Plus, we knew we were going into the clinic at 11:30am and could get more supplies to get us by. So, Dad went to the office, Bennett went to school and the only saving grace for Mom was that Grammy was coming over to help today. Carter was irritable and seemed more lethargic and we had chemo treatment as well, so it was nice to have extra help. And Carter loves Grammy, so it gave my arms a break for a while.

Carter’s blood work from today came back and all his counts look normal, so he doesn’t need a transfusion (which is good). But now we are wondering why he is acting lethargic and irritable. The oncologist thinks maybe it has to do with his some of his meds and three of them being pretty sedating, so we are going to play around with giving some in the mornings and others at night. We’ll see. But also, his ANC (white blood cell count) is very low, which makes him more susceptible to infection. We just have to make sure he is pretty sheltered and stays fever-free during this time, especially. We don’t want anything to put us in the hospital early or delay Round 3 on Tuesday.

Carter was fighting every diaper change and was kicking and screaming while we were putting his pjs on this evening. We are hoping he wakes up a well-rested, happy little boy tomorrow. We were so spoiled with how well things were going at home. Carter was acting great and eating well. We thought we had this cancer-business down, but then you are reminded that your child is really sick and doesn’t feel well. It all comes crashing back down.

On another note of hating cancer… (and as positive as we are through this, we have allowed ourselves to HATE cancer), our dear friend (Allyson) was just diagnosed with breast cancer. She has a fighting instinct like Carter and we know she too will beat this. Just keep her in your thoughts and prayers as well. She has two little boys the same ages as Bennett and Carter, and Matt and I went to college with her and her husband (Jim). They are very special to us, and we are sorry they have to battle this right along side us. We can’t wait for both our families to be cancer-free!