We are home once again. We shouldn't have to go back until next Tuesday. Because of the colonies of Leukemia cells that were found on the flow cytometry, Nick will have to undergo a couple more weeks of the initial types of chemotherapy. They have also prescribed that his doses of steroids be bumped sky high again...which means that we will have to begin again on the weening process. Part of the reason for this may be that he is being treated with the pediatric protocol, but, at 22, he is on the cusp between pediatric patient and adult patient. They usually follow the pediatric protocol for anyone under 26. (I don't know why that is, but people much smarter than I have deemed it to be so.)
The chemo that he will receive next Tuesday is the one that has caused him all of the problems with clotting. It doesn't produce the same effects in everyone. So, lets just all agree in prayer that this round will not produce the same side effects. The good thing about this is that we are all aware of how it affected him before. So, God's visible intervention on this matter or not...he will be fine. Sometimes God's intervention shows up in wisdom learned from past trials. (Wow, I needed to hear what I just typed...for a number or reasons!)
Today has been good and peaceful. The nurses at Vandy accessed Nick's new port for the first time. (They stuck a needle through his skin into the port.) It was painful because the site is covered in a deep purple bruise, but when it heals it should be an easy thing to endure.
Can I just tell y'all that I dearly love this young man. I have always felt that I had a good relationship with all three of our children. I love and cherish them all! God has made mighty and men and women of God out of them, in spite of our short comings as parents. They are all so very different, but are alike in a number of ways as well. I guess that it may have been easier over the years for me to understand our girls, because I am a girl. (I know...I'm using the term as a gender denotation...not an age indicator.) However, this time period has given me a unique opportunity to get to know our son in ways that I'm not sure I would otherwise have been given. He is deep, kind, tough as nails, intelligent, patient, wise, and transparent. I'm sure that this situation has probably matured many of those qualities, but they are accurate descriptors of who he is. I see Jesus in him. It is well!
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