Matthews Cancer Adventure

Big Smile Day!

Today was Matthew’s first clinic visit back at the Clinical Care Center since being cleared from the Bone Marrow Transplant unit which means he got blood work and a visit with Peg, his CCC Nurse Practitioner. 

Well, Peg says his blood work is very good, which means that numbers are on the rise where needs be, hemoglobin, Platelets, Potassium, etc., and decreasing where needs be too! We can’t be.more thankful to the Lord for how well he is doing!!!

Good numbers mean that the targeted radiation therapy is going to happen soon. This will be an addition measure, in the area of the original tumor, just to be sure that anything left of the 0.02% not removed in surgery is destroyed. Thankfully each of these 10 treatments are very quick and have little to no side effects. 

Matthew and I asked many questions of Peg to see where he stands in terms of just relaxing and enjoying life again and Peg said that “his new old immune system is ready to handle it”, while still being smart and clean, of course.

MORE GOOD NEWS!

It is also possible, after the radiation, that he will get his PORT removed before moving on to the Accutane part of the consolidation process!! 

On the way out, when the elevator door opened, Dr Foster stepped out with a big grin on her face. She is so happy for Matthew and said it time to “Enjoy his Freedom!”

We are so thankful for all your prayers and support. Please keep them lifted up as the consolidation process continues.

And to God be.all the glory!!!

A Great Day!

Today was Matthew’s second visit to the BoneMarrow Transplant clinic since being released from the in-patient unit.

Today was PICC line removal day AND since a PICCture is worth a thousand words …

ALL GONE!!!!!

This means so much and we of course want to give God all the glory!!!

Matthew still will have his PORT in place for a little while longer but having the PICC line removed means that normal life can return. Mom and dad won’t need to flush and HepLock him daily, he can shower without a big patch keeping the area dry and clean, and infection risk just went down in a major way.

He is now being transfered back to Dr Foster and Peg un the Oncology clinic for the remainder of the consolidation process and followup.

His Nurse Practitioner Stacey said that his Stem Cells are quite busy, they are “rockin” to use her term, and his marrow is so well engrafted already that he can even go to church, restaurants, movies and, most importantly, on dates with sweet Emma!

What’s next?

1. Well, there is some targeted radiation coming soon where they will treat certain areas as an added measure to be sure no cells linger. 
2. Then, after that, there will be some Accutane treatments. 
3. And, of course, more MIBG and CT scans are a given, too. But those are easy breezy at this point.

We thank God daily for all your prayers, love and support. We can’t tell you how much all of that means.

And there is still an ongoing need so if you or someone you know would like to help Matthew on this Cancer Adventure in a financial way please go to www.gofundme.com/matthewsadventure.

May the Lord bless you and keep you!