Week 10!!

The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. Work has gotten ridiculously busy, our cat died, my dad had a stroke, our first fever protocol, Logan started rapidly losing weight and now the government has shut down!  I’m pretty sure things need to start looking up and I think October would be a great time for that to happen.  Especially since this week marks the end of Logan’s “induction period”.  He has finished 10 weeks of chemotherapy and is coming out of it stronger than ever.  

Frequent meal time meltdowns

When the doctors told us last week that we needed to make a high calorie diet a high priority, I thought it would be a piece of cake.  What kid wouldn’t want to eat ice cream, milkshakes, pizza, etc. all day every day?  My kid – that’s who.  Not only was Logan battling the nausea and lack of appetite associated with chemotherapy, I’m pretty sure he had a stomach bug on top of it.  From Thursday through Sunday (particularly in the middle of the night – who needs sleep?), Logan spent a good amount of time in the bathroom and let’s just say constipation was no longer an issue.  Refusing to eat even his favorite foods, and frequent bathroom visits meant that Logan lost 1.5 more pounds.  He was now down 10% of his body weight in a very short amount of time.  In the days since, his appetite has seemed to improve and it is not as much of a battle to get him to eat, although frequent reminders are still used.  The weight is slowly coming back and hopefully it will stay this time. The doctors were happy with his weight gain this week.  

In week 10, the topic of weakness came up again.  The neurologist considered Logan's deficits to be in the borderline range.  He was on the fence about whether or not to limit Logan's dose of Vincristine this week, but decided that it would be preferable to finish out the induction with the full dose.  If need be, They will cut the dose when Logan returns in 2 weeks to start his first "maintenance cycle".  Other than that, Week 10 was relatively uneventful. A little slow, thanks to the pharmacy taking it's time getting his meds out.  Logan had a good nap while we were waiting.  It was 1 of 4 naps today.  I suppose he was a little wiped out today. 

Now that he is done with his 10 week induction, Logan will get a 2-week break from chemotherapy.  In those 2 weeks Logan will get an MRI and follow-up with his doctors to see what effects, if any, the chemotherapy is having on the tumors. He will also see his neuro-ophthalmologist for a thorough vision assessment to assure that his vision has not been compromised.  This is where the “scanxiety” starts.  Waiting to see what is happening and what is all means.  Finding out if the chemo is doing it’s job or if Logan has gone through all of this for nothing.   Course of action at that point may change based on what the MRI shows, but the plan is to start maintenance cycles consisting of 4 weeks of chemo and 2 week breaks for the rest of the year long course. All in all, Logan has done an AMAZING job in handling everything. At three years old, he has gone through more than a lot of people ever will and has showed such strength and courage.  I could not be more proud of my little baby!