Aidan Update 4/18

Hello friends,

Aidan has been busy...I will start with the good news. Unfortunately, it's true, not so good news follows.

Stem cell harvest went well. They were able to get a very good collection. Enough cells for more than one transplant if need be. Hopefully, he will engraft well with one, but a back-up is comforting.
Another positive note...Aidan has completed his 4th cycle. Only one more to go and then on to a myeloblative high dose chemo regimen immediately prior to stem cell transplant.

Now for the not so good...this past cycle was very rough on Aidan.
One of his chemo infusions is bladder toxic and Aidan has been having visible blood in his urine. He was sent home on IV fluids continuously to flush out his bladder. Hemorrhagic cystitis can last two weeks or two months. We are hopeful that it will resolve well enough so that he is able to move forward with his 5th cycle in a couple of weeks.
If you are eating, put your sandwich down or skip to the next paragraph. Aidan has acquired a very nasty stomach bug (c diff for all you medical folks). Terrible stomach cramping with multiple episodes of mucousy diarrhea (oh the diaper rash)! A scary bug for an immunocompromised patient.
Another lovely side effect of cumulative rounds of chemo is mucositis. Painful inflammation of your GI lining from your mouth to your bottom. Enough said.

This is where Aidan gets busy! We were released from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon after completion of his chemo. I brought Aidan back through the ER on Wednesday night after changing a diaper that had more blood in it (sorry). He was re admitted. He was released on Thursday night about 11pm after being given fluids, blood and a unit of platelets. He had labs drawn again on Friday and had to come back for another unit of platelets . It is now Sunday...yep, I am writing from Children's. He was admitted this afternoon. The past 2 days have been awful for him. It has been difficult to watch. He has been in a considerable amount of pain and has been unable to keep his medicine down, let alone any nutrition. Thankfully, they are giving him morphine for his pain and he is resting comfortably. I am hopeful that his doc will start him on IV nutrition tomorrow. We are hoping to quickly resolve some of these problems and that this will be a short stay.

Everyone asks "what can I do"? Continue to keep Aidan in your prayers. Visit Life Source to donate blood and platelets (yes, you can donate those also). Resources are always too low (and Aidan is keeping the blood bank busy).

I will update with future happenings. Good night.

K