Florida!

A few pictures from our visit to Discovery Cove. What a place!

Good day at Dana Farber

96K platelets! We will likely increase the dose of the chemo next week, since his platelets are doing okay. He had a decent day, out by 2 pm and no nausea for a change. Back again next week!

He's feeling okay, had a couple of great days at school this week, and is in very good spirits.

Keep the good thoughts and prayers coming!

Bill

Boston Globe and Dana Farber......

The Boston Globe ran a front page story in Saturday's paper about the iron workers painting the Dana Farber kid's name on the beams of the new cancer center being built .Not sure how long the link will last, but there is video and pictures as well as the story. Ricky's name is on the building, they did it in one day! He thought that was very cool. I think the iron workers are very cool.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/21/steeling_their_courage/

Back from vacation!

We had a great trip to Orlando. He had several TIAs while we were down south, but otherwise no medical issues. We covered lots of parks and the weather was super. I'll get some video and pictures up shortly.

It was a little touch and go for while the day we left. Ricky's platelets had fallen to 63K last Wednesday so he was unable to receive any chemo, which needs at least 75K. On Thursday (Feb 12th), he and his Mom went back up to Dana Farber to see what direction the count was heading before we flew, and it had dropped to 59K. A platelet transfusion got his count up to 94K, so off we went. Today, he had 87K, a good number. We did a 50% reduction in dosage to get the platelets stable. He had no nausea today during treatment.


Bill

Update 2/11/09

Well, not so good news today, Ricky's platelets dropped to 63K from 101K before his first treatment last week. As a result, he wasn't able to get any medicine today, as there is a 75K minimum required. He's going back to Dana Farber first thing Thursday to recheck the counts. We need to know if they are dropping or going back up since we leave for Florida in the afternoon. If they are over 75K, they will give him medicine right then, if they are over 63K, but less than the required 75K then he may not need to have his counts done in Florida. If the counts are lower than 63K, we'll have to test again down there and give him platelets if needed.

I'll keep you posted. He's feeling fine, and very excited about going to Orlando!

New day, new treatment!

Ricky ended up pretty nauseous during his new treatment, but recovered late in the afternoon. He slept in my arms for two hours during therapy and didn't eat at all today while there. He did end up with a new large stuffed cat he named Buttercup.

His blood counts were all okay, 101K platelets, 2.71 WBC, ANC was stable. Exam was stable. Next MRI will be mid March.

I'll keep you posted!

Update from Dana Farber and some pictures

So we had another meeting at Dana Farber today and we are starting a new program for Ricky tomorrow morning, it's called Temsirolimus. The idea is to stop the tumor from growing. This drug has not been helpful in shrinking tumors, but we can get it now, and it has had some success.


At the last MRI, the tumor was 1/3 of an inch in size and not causing any problems so if we can stop the growth, we'll be happy. Once a week he'll get an IV and the side effects are similar to the other programs. There is another option that may open up for him in the next few weeks, but we really can't afford to wait.


About the pictures: To the right below, is Ricky going into the MRI. It's not as bad as it looks, he's wearing goggles and earphones so he can watch a DVD. The camp pictures were from last weekend in Vermont, that's Uncle Doug and Ricky checking out the under construction camp. Very cool. He had a great time. Zero issues, no TIAs, just lots of energy and laughing. The picture of him in front of the 69 Roadrunner and with his favorite kind of model (female) are from the recent World of Wheels show in Boston.

Thanks for all the good stuff being sent our way!