We've Arrived to Week #10 of Treatment!!

Kameron was admitted to the hospital for his 10th week of chemotherapy cycles before his tumor removal surgery in mid-July! To recap for those of you who may be new to following Kam's journey with osteosarcoma, the plan is for 10 weeks of chemotherapy. Surgery to remove the tumor. Then more chemotherapy. After this he will get a 3 week break (hopefully, fingers crossed) from chemotherapy and hospitalizations. I can't adequately put into words how much we are all looking forward to staying away from the hospital for that long. We are here, on average, every other week. 

Last week when Kameron was hospitalized (for week #9) we all got a good scare when, suddenly and without warning, he fainted.  Twice. After an extensive work-up and multiple specialists consulting, it was definitively determined to be a rare medication reaction causing orthostatic hypotension. Orthostatic hypotension means your blood pressure gets dangerously low when you go from a laying down, sitting, to standing or moving position. It was a tough couple days of really low blood pressures, but he got through it. It was one of his more terrible times in the hospital. We prefer his hospital stays to remain boring. 

Kameron has continued to struggle with significant nausea and a poor appetite. It's been tougher to manage for him, as one of the meds that caused his fainting episode had really helped his nausea quite a bit. Please pray we are able to control his nausea, as he is losing weight again. He is doing his best, but it's hard when chemo makes your taste buds weird and even water tastes different.

Jesse and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary last Saturday in the hospital with Kam. The hospital allowed us to have lunch in Kameron's room together. We got Kona Grill take out and Kam got to be our plus one, and we shared some of our meal with him. Jesse spent Father's Day with Kam for his day #4 hospitalization. We brought him homemade shrimp & mushroom alfredo and dessert to celebrate the awesome husband and daddy he has been.  

Kam was able to come home for a couple days before this most recent hospitalization. Thank you for the cards, encouragement, meals, and some mochi that was sent. Forgive us, as we have no time right now to properly send out thank you cards. Yet, we know you all understand. Bless.

Week #8 and #9 Treatment Updates

Kameron got really ill last week. His throat suddenly started bothering him, his ears hurt, and his temp started going up to 100.0 F. He was miserable and quite ill. We saw his oncologist and they felt he had a pretty miserable throat infection. He was on hospital watch. Any worsening at all, and we'd have to go into the hospital for inpatient treatment. Kameron hates the hospital.

We decided to put him on magic mouth wash with an anti-yeast medication and an antibiotic. His pain got so bad he needed pain medication (if you know Kam well, he hates medicine and prefers to take the fewest medications possible). The first set of pain meds made him puke and he was not able to eat much and keep it down. It was a pretty tense ~24-48 hrs, but he finally got better after that! He was eating, playing with his brothers, asking to play family board games and go for walks. 

Today, Kameron was re-admitted to the hospital for week #9 of chemotherapy after "making counts." His throat infection has largely cleared and he no longer has pain or difficulty with swallowing. He will likely be in the hospital for 4-5 days and then will be home briefly for a few days; before another round of chemo next week.  It's a bit like Groundhogs Day.  Thankfully, this round he gets the biggest room on the ward. I joked with Kam that I could do cartwheels in here.

Once he is done with the next 2 rounds of chemo, we wait for Kam's blood counts to recover, and then he has surgery to remove this beast of a tumor. His surgery will happen in July.

Kam is a warrior. He is fighting taste buds constantly changing due to chemotherapy side effects, and he has managed to find a way to push through the nausea, illness, vomiting 🤢 and put back on a bit of weight! This has been hard won for him. But we have found a regimen that's working for him. Hallelujah! 

Thank you for keeping us close to heart, sending positive vibes, and keeping us in prayer. For reaching out and checking on us. For the words of encouragement sent. We have been getting all of them. And it's so appreciated. 

While many fighting cancer struggle with feeling isolated, we feel supported. Loved. Encouraged. The tribe keeps showing up. Much love to you all. ❤❤❤❤❤❤

Kameron meeting the cousins new puppy this past weekend

Surgery Plans and Update

Kameron met with our local oncology orthopedist on Tuesday to discuss his upcoming surgery to remove the tumor in his leg. His surgery is tentatively scheduled on July 19th. He will need to undergo extensive preoperative testing, new imaging for surgical planning, etc. This will all need to happen before his scheduled surgery.

Then Kameron had an appointment with his oncologist on Wednesday. They gave him an antibiotic infusion to prevent pneumonia and rechecked his blood counts. His platelets (which help with clotting) are low and his white blood cells (which help fight infection) are also quite low.  And he is anemic. He may need a blood transfusion in the next week or so. All are expected side effects from his chemotherapy.

Kameron had this past week and this upcoming week off from his chemotherapy regimen. He should undergo two more infusions of methotrexate the following week and the week after that, should his counts permit moving forward with treatment. There is always the possibility Kameron won't be stable enough for chemotherapy.

We've been able to get Kameron to eat enough to maintain his weight. But it's been hard to have an appetite with such an aggressive chemo regimen. In addition, he has had mouth sores. But thankfully those are improving. 

Kam has been struggling a lot with a recurrent bloody nose. Yesterday he had one so intense that was not responding to our home measures, and after a call to his doctor, he had to go to the ER. His platelets, white and red blood cells continue to lower (but not severe yet). They packed his nose and infused it with a gel to prevent further bleeding. It finally has stopped. We are hopeful this may stop his daily nose bleeds.

We will see his oncologist again on Wednesday. Please pray for our warrior's appetite. Weight maintenance (and gain) is imperative for his battle. Pray his nose bleeds stay away, as it's been a daily struggle and is probably worsening his already miserable nausea. That his counts stay up and we won't have a delay for his treatments. Delay in treatments can mean delay in surgery. Continue to hold our family in prayer. For Jesse and I to maintain energy levels and our ability to encourage. 

Thanks for being our tribe. ❤