Tate had an early Lumbar Puncture appointment this morning that started an hour late because the patient scheduled before him hadn’t arrived yet.  Just as the nurses decided to move Tate into the procedure room to do his LP, a mom holding a screaming toddler waked by.  We all...

Tate had an appointment with the Nurse Practitioner today and was cleared to begin the next phase of treatment, Delayed Intensification  (DI).  Tate is “anxious as heck” but resolved to continue.  On the way home from the appointment he was talking about how he’s worried about how terrible he...

Things are busy at our house!  We are getting ready for Thanksgiving and Tate’s next treatment phase, Delayed Intensification.  We are looking forward to spending time with family from California, Idaho, Florida, and Alabama!  Tate really struggles with even the shortest car rides, so we need to stay home...

It has been a quiet few days.  Now that the weather is cooler and Tate is better rested, he has started venturing outside for some fresh air.  He has not gone outside for the sake of being outside for probably four months.  Between the blistering desert heat and the...

When I woke Tate up this morning to give him his meds I noticed a rash on his left forearm.  I was immediately concerned, but Tate is a sleepy teenager and not so worried about anything save getting more sleep.  When I was finally able to rouse him, I...

A few things from Tate’s appointment surprised me today.  None of it was terrible news, just unexpected.  After going to all these appointments I feel like we can kind of gauge how his blood work is going to look by his demeanor, energy level, appearance, etc.  It turns out...

It has been a quiet week at our house.  Tate slept a lot, a lot, a lot (!) Monday through Wednesday, and it seems like he has been wide awake since Thursday morning.  Weeks without chemotherapy are built into treatment protocol so his body can regenerate enough to endure...

I thought today was the day Tate would get his last Erwinia shots.  I was wrong.  Really wrong.  I misunderstood the oncologist’s explanation of upcoming treatment a few weeks ago, and it turns out Tate has two more sets of six shots to go before he is done with...

Today’s Lumbar Puncture was the same and also a little different from previous procedure days.  Until now, the LPs were performed in a little room toward the back of the clinic portion of the building.  It was a very quiet space.  Today it was done in the surgery part...

Today was Tate’s fastest, easiest appointment to date.  The exam with the oncologist went well; he is cleared for the lumbar puncture and chemo tomorrow morning, and his blood work showed his hemoglobin, platelets, and ANC are pretty strong (for him). The only concerning news from today’s appointment is...