CHAM a Day Early

Sammy Playing Wii While Getting Chemo

This past week Sam had some interesting symptoms. They began with itching skin...just heat rash..probably.  Then he developed an itchy port site...not so heat rashy!  Then the peeing hurt and the testicles were stinging....not what a mom wants to hear.  Being me, I kept emailing Dr. C. to keep him in the loop and he felt we could wait until clinic on Thursday.

This morning Sam woke up with a canker sore, sore throat, pain in the 'you know what's', a blinding headache, and a very painful ear.  I took the day off work and went into CHAM to get it all looked at.  Poppa met me there incase I could get out and go back to work.  I do that on regular days when Sammy just gets chemo, but not when things are not as they should be.  So Poppa went home again as I dug in for the duration.

Sam's ear was red with water bubbles deep inside....ear infection - check!   No mass in his testicles so I began to breathe again as that may have meant cancer has developed there...common with boys and always checked on a regular basis.  Phew!  BUT, the pee and pain indicated a urinary tract infection, along with the wince of pain when Sam was examined on his back and belly - KIDNEY ISSUE!

As boys rarely get urinary tract infections (this is Sam's second), and due to the pain, Sam is going to get an ultrasound to check his kidneys....not for infection, but to see if they are damaged.  Please keep your fingers crossed that this is not the case....mommy sweats are not setting in yet...gotta keep the positive thoughts going on this one.

Counts came back and more mommy sweats could have occurred....his ANC was 12000+.....can anyone say relapse????   But, he has just had his steroid pulse and he has an infection...both cause elevated WBC and ANC so we are putting it down to that and NOTHING else!!!!  Other counts are fine so I know we don't have to go down that route at this point.

We have been sent home with ten days of antibiotics and the hope that we get the ultrasound pretty quickly.  Sammy feels a little better.

I also learned that Sam is in cycle 16 out of 24.  Due to a delay he had earlier on, he only has to get to cycle 23...that means we have seven more cycles to go and that's it!  First or second week of November should be the last chemo Sam gets....Yeah!