So many great things have happened since Friday afternoon... starting with us coming home from the hospital!! YEAH!!! I was so very excited about being together as a family. The girls were beyond thrilled when Carter walked through the door. (Although they were not beyond thrilled that he went straight in to take a nap.) Addi hugged him at least three times (lifting her foot each time) and Pres climbed onto the couch and patted him on the head saying "caca" over and over. (I know... funny that she calls him that, huh?) The warm and fuzzy feeling didn't last long, though. When we got into our room so he could lay down on the blow up bed which he will be calling home for the next few weeks while we have family here helping out, I took off his jacket only to find... BLOOD! That's right, folks, blood coming from the end of his newly installed PICC line. SERIOUSLY!?!? I immediately called the doctor and left a message. Then I called the hospital and talked to his nurse who told me to call the at- home nursing agency. I called them and the nurse told me that I would have to flush it (run saline through it) to make sure it didn't clot. She would be more than happy to do it but she has a cold. No one with so much as the sniffles is allowed within 100 yards of Carter so it was up to me. They rushed some saline and heparin over to me and while I was on the phone with the nurse I flushed it. As I started to do this blood started coming out from where the PICC line connects to the connector thingy that I connect meds to (pretty sure that's the scientific name for it). Awesome. The nurse on the phone told me to try unscrewing it and putting it back on. Maybe it was just not screwed on correctly (you know when you are trying t put the lid back on the peanut butter and it's just not going...?). Thank heavens that was the problem. If that hadn't fixed it, back to the hospital we would have trotted. *sigh*
But, since then, it's been smooth sailing. Chemo on Monday was a cinch. Meds since then have been fine (as long as I don't overthink that the PICC line in which we are shoving meds goes straight to his heart). And Carter? Well, he is a CHAMP! Man alive, that kid has been more of a trooper than I EVER thought he would be. No complaining from him. None. I'm so very proud of him.
This is what a typical day looks like for him concerning meds: (not using actual names of the medicines because that's just too much info for a blog.)
7:00am --> Anti bacteria med through the PICC line
8:00am--> Steroid, weekend drug (on the weekends of course), and anti-nausia med. (all oral)
1:30pm --> Anti-fungal drug through the PICC line.
3:00pm--> Anti bacterial med through the PICC line.
7:00pm--> Steroid and weekend drug. (Both oral)
11:00pm--> Anti bacterial med through the PICC line.
The drugs will slow down soon. After induction he doesn't have the steroid as much (I will have an entire post about the steroid because it's kinda funny) and in a week or so he'll be off the antifungal and antibateria ones. But I'm sure he'll work some other drugs into the mix at some point. :)
This morning we got a call from Carter's oncologist. She said she couldn't wait until Monday (our next chemo appointment) to tell us some exciting news. Carter's cancer is all but GONE! He is technially in remission!!! All this really means is that the prognosis is even BETTER than before!!! He still has the three years of chemotherapy, he'll still lose his hair, he'll still puke his guts out, he's still got a SUPER crappy immune system... BUT HE'LL BE OK!!!! I seriously would have kissed her if the concersation had been in person! We are beyond thrilled and Carter called all four of his grandparents to tell them, "I have remission!!!" I am excited to talk more to Dr Reeves about this when we see her in a few days and while I know the battle is far from over, I feel much more at ease with things. God is good and the first thing we did when we got off the phone was kneel in prayer and thank him prefusely. (Ok, actually we went and celebrated with milkshakes and THEN prayed.