Matthews Cancer Adventure

How Sweet The Sound!

So, it was great to hear the words “No evidence of disease!” come out of Matthew’s doctors mouth, twice.

But even greater was to hear “You are engrafted!”
They say that when a Bone Marrow Transplant patient is at an ANC of 0.5 (500) or greater for 3 days that indicated that their Stem Cells have engrafted and their marrow is funtioning.

Matthew went from an ANC of 0.0, no immune system, to one of 0.5 in one day and everyone was happy. Then the next day it was at 3.2 (3200) and everyone was excited. Then today his number was at 9.96 (9960). This is over only three days. And the doctors are amazed!

This should mean that the trip home is getting very close and that makes Matthew smile very big!!!!!

There is still the weening off of a few meds that were required when his Stem Cell engrafting brought with it some fever. They are so thorough here at TX Childrens Hospital Bone Marrow Transplant Unit that they want to make absolutely sure that he is ready to go home before releasing him.

Thank you all for all your prayers. Please keep them lifted up as there will be a little while before his immune system, though looking very very good, is “mature enough” to be fully protecting him.

But, given how well his immune system is bouncing back, and the fact that they are his own Stem Cells at work, it is our hope and prayer that this time will be short.

May the Lord bless and keep you all!

Two Visitors!

Matthew was blessed recently with two wonderful and cheerful visitors.

One was Mom’s best friend Melanie.

She always brings her smile and positive outlook with her. You might think that she came to be supportive of her friend (mom), and you’d be right, but she also came to bring some smiles to Matthew. It worked!

Then sister Christi came by for a visit. She always brings good cheer with her … and a few treats, both for Mom and Matthew.

This was when his immune system had barely started to bounce back. Matthew had gone from an ANC of 0.0 the day before to a 0.5. That was much better than the doctors had expected and thought he was running a small fever they weren’t concerned and they were very happy with his progress.
Thank you all for you prayers and support!

(Again, because she wrote it so well, I’m just boldly stealing Mom words)
Matthew Update:  Well, the inevitable is happening – losing his hair again. 😢 

This is 1:00 this morning when he asked me to cut it short.(step 1) 

He really should have lost it doing the immunotherapy but, thankfully, it only thinned so we’re trying to focus on the bonus months of hairiness! 

He also hit a true zero today with his ANC (blood indicator of NO immune system) so I’m tracking down every germ with a vengeance! His mouth is so sore that when he tries to talk it sounds like he has 3 socks in it – haha, so I’m learning his unique brand of sign language. 😜 

Even though I’ve done stupid sock puppet shows & things to distract him, Matthew winds up cheering ME up at the end of the day. 

On the stair stepper just now while getting platelets. His doctor laughs & says she can’t believe he feels like doing that.

He’s a true winner in my book. (I know I’m bragging excessively, but I’m just so proud & I thank you for your indulgence. I know most of you understand 😊.)

(This update is a total steal from something Mom posted)

Matthew is toughing through the pain & nasty symptoms that accompany an immune system loss … without morphine, so far. They keep offering it like it’s free candy! The way he peers up at me with a precious smile as he pukes up bile into a bucket (sorry if TMI 😬) makes me tear up. I wonder if he knows he’s allowed to complain? 

Things picked up this afternoon & he was energetic enough that he was speed-walking the halls & swinging that IV pole so fast around the corners it was making me nervous 😳 & inspired one nurse to shout, “Whoa! Speed limit!”

All in all, a thankfully uneventful day!

Thank you, Lord!!!

And thank you praying friends 💗

Feeling Very Thankful! 

There is no way to adequately describe how thankful we are for how day ZERO went. Matthew was blessed to have a great team looking over him and caring for him including Heather #1 and Heather #2.

The actual Stem Cell Infusion only took about 15 minutes. Afterwards, like after any blood product infusion, they monitor you closely for about 4 hours and then, if you are incident free, you are back to the normal monitoring and whatever activities you can think of to do that your doctor will allow. Matthew wanted to shoot some hoops with mom!

He was able to help mom with her form and as you can see she was being very competitive 🙂

6 hours after Stem Cell Infusion, with all vitals looking good and amazing everyone, it was time for dad to grab up the laundry bag and head home but not before bringing Matthew some Whataburger. 

We thank you all for all your prayers, especially on this special day. It is, as they say, another birthday of sorts. It is surely a day we will never forget.

Now, on to engrafting, but that part is out of our hands and in God’s control, as everything is, always!!!

Stem Cell Infusion!

Today is Day ZERO!! which means Matthew officially has none of his old bone marrow left and they will be infusing his with his own Stem Cells today. They will begin the process of rebuilding his bone marrow and restoring his immune system. 

This is truly an amazing thing, that this is even possible, and we are so thankful to God for all the means He uses to heal and restore.

Please keep Matthew, us, and his doctors and caregivers in your prayers today and for the next few weeks as the Adventure continues!

Sibling Saturday! 

It us always great when the siblings come visit during the hospital stays and today was no exception.

Christi arrived first bearing food and of course she brought her usual cheerfulness with her too.

Later in the day Jesse came for a visit and gave Matthew someone to talk football with!!

What better way to spend day T-Minus 3!!

Please keep this coming Tuesday in your prayers as that will be DAY ZERO meaning Stem Cell Infusion Day!!!

Today Is T-Minus 4 days to Transplant!!!!!

Lace Up For Life!

It apparently is never boring at the BMT Unit.

First – and foremost, Matthew is feeling great which pleases the doctors to no end!

Second – All the patients briefly got sequestered in their rooms as they made absolutely sure that any dust from some nearby construction was cleared out. Dr. Cranz cares so much for this unit and had all hands on deck, got everything wiped down, put sticky mats outside of all the rooms (not very slipper friendly) and since the rooms are ‘positive pressure everything turned out great.

Third – Matthew got a few minutes free from his IV pole to join the Lace Up 4 Life event where they allowed the ‘kids’ to walk up and down the hall and be cheered on by volunteers, nurses, doctors and others to help them with their time here in the BMT.

Fourth – Matthew got a visit from Valerie Anderson of the His Grace Foundation. She not only brought a couple of nice gift baskets but also stayed and visited for a few minutes. We keep running into other people with A&M connections and that opens up so many conversation opportunities. (Their was also a swimming connection) The most interesting thing she shared was that her husbands great grandmother wrote the lyrics to the A&M 12th Man song. How cool is that?!!!!

Fifth – It was finally lunch time. All the interruptions and distractions can actually get in the way of lunch but when the time came Matthew was ready … even for hospital food!!

Sixth – Matthew decided to have a nurse from the VAC team check on his PICC line since the sterile cover was getting a little snug. She said all was great but decided to put on a new dressing anyway. (No picture for this, sorry) This nurse had a connection to school bands so we got to talk about that for a while!

Seventh – Nurse Robert pops in the room, after another day with lots of lab work to see how Matthew’s body is dealing with the chemo, and announces that they are going to be able to reduce the amount of the first chemo per infusion for the remainder of the doses he will need! Thank you God!!!

Eighth – It was time for Mom to come bring food and take over the main duties for a few weeks. I have to tell you, Janet is really amazing!!!!! She spent so much of her time here this last year. She would just say, “I can’t imagine doing anything else. It’s what a mom does.”, but I want to give her due praise for being the awesome mother and wife that she is!!!!!

Finally – Dad was on his way home. I, too, can’t imagine not being right there the whole time but their are other things that need to get done and tended to. Thankfully the drive down to TX Children’s isn’t too bad at the right times of the day so I’ll be down plenty while Mom is on duty, especially on Stem Cell Infusion Day!

Thank you all for your continued prayers, thoughts, love and support!

Countdown to Transplant!

Well, it is t-minus 5 days to Matthew getting his Stem Cell infusion and as usual the morning started with an abundance of visits from a variety of people including Volunteers, Doctors and Nurses. They really pay close attention to their BMT patients here at TX Children’s Hospital and they are all such nice people!

Matthew feels great and was up for another walkabout so we cruised what there is of the BMT floor and then stopped for a little, and I mean LITTLE basketball. I know that Matthew can’t wait to be able to shoot full size hoops again but it is so great to see him sinking 3 pointer after 3 pointer in the BMT Media Room.

We also got a visit from Dr Foster today!!!!!
Though Matthew is in the extremely capable hands of the BMT doctors and nurses she will be keeping up with his progress and stopping by for visits as part of her normal rounds. The day is always a little brighter when she can come and visit.

What’s All This Vlogging?

Matthew ‘follows’ this video blog (vlogger rather than blogger) of this guy called Casey Neistat and we watched a couple of those ‘episodes’ together. They are very travel log like but this guy is quite interesting to watch. It is great to share this with Matthew and listen to him discuss and analyze things.

QUOTE of the day
(Dr. Foster) “You do not look like someone who is going through Bone Marrow Transplant, how does the chemo feel?”

(Matthew) “It just feels like I’m getting my IV fluids!”

Distance Learning Is A Blessing!

It must be an Aggie thing! Matthew logged on from his BMT room to do some of his studying for his distance learning class through A&M. This is such a great thing to see and the folks at A&M are really willing to work with him to keep things on track.

In the afternoon Dr. Martinez, his BMT version of Dr Foster, also made her rounds and was quite impressed by how well Matthew is tolerating the first chemo. Thank you Lord and we pray that this will continue!

It Is So Good To See Mom!

In the evening Mom brought Matthew some dinner, since with his particular circumstances he can eat more regular foods, and then help him fill out the forms for a charity that does a blessing called “Dec My Room”. This charity finds out what a patient is interested in and then brings things to the room and decorates it so that the patient will have an ‘environment’ to stay in. This sounds so very cool!

Giving Thanks

As always, we thank God so very much for how well Matthew is tolerating this treatment and pray that He will grant Matthew a smooth, infection free, quick road to being en-grafted with his own Stem Cells and new Bone Marrow!!! We also thank all of you for all your prayers and support.

If you are moved to do so please check out Matthew’s GoFundMe page:
https://www.gofundme.com/matthewsadventure

Out and about!

Day -6

What? Why day -6? Well, for Bone Marrow Transplant they count down days from admission to chemo to stem cell infusion from -7 to 0. They then count back up. i.e 7 days from 0, 14 days from 0 etc. One person referred to Day 0 as a sort of new birthday.

After the usual flow of what seems non-stop visitors, all of whom are wonderful people, from doctors to nurses to people letting you know about what is offered to patients and families, we got visited by the physical and occupational therapy ladies. They made sure Matthew is physically strong and able, which he is thank God, and then took him on a walkabout. Now, on the BMT floor that isn’t too far but they say anytime he can get out and walk he should. It really helps get through this process, in many ways!

Then, a little later, Craig, from His Grace, stopped in to give Matthew a back massage. He is a great guy and was here before when Matthew was on this floor so he remembered him and talked to him alot.

The first day is almost behind us and all is going well. Matthew is sharing some Norway pictures with Heather #1 (he has two nurses named Heather) and it is great to hear all these stories all over again.

Mom will be here soon, bearing food for Matthew, and then we move forward with more treatment heading to day -5.

Thank you all so very much for all your prayers and support!