An Emotional Roller Coaster

Please, Stop the Vomit! 

Wow. What a crazy week and a half since my last post. After Archer's third chemo treatment, he was doing pretty well, though because he was still throwing up, he had to come home on TPN (which is basically a liquid form of nourishment with proteins, calories, carbohydrates and added vitamins) along with a bag of lipids (the medical form of Crisco). He packs the bags and pumps around in a backpack that is as large as he is. Though he can't carry the backpack on his own, he does enjoy dragging it behind him. If you can see past the situation for a second, it is quite adorable!

What Break?

We were home for almost four days and looking forward to another week being away from the hospital, when Archer contracted a fever and we had to take him to the ER. Aubrey had been up all night giving him medicine every 3 hours and taking his temperature so I took him to UVRMC ER at 7:30 in the morning on Sunday while Aubrey and Kaesia slept. As soon as we were put in a room, Archer said he wanted to watch football. I was okay with that! They ran a bunch of tests and found out that he had Enterovirus and had to be admitted at PCMC for a couple days. We had promised Kaesia that we were going to play with her all week since it was Archer's week off from chemo. She was heartbroken when Aubrey left her and she had to be peeled off her leg, screaming and crying. It was terrible! Archer was also elated to leave UVRMC so you can imagine the devastation when we got to Primary Children's. His first two words upon arrival were "fish" and "pizza" so we let him drown his sorrows in an ocean of fish and cheesy, round bliss.

Aubrey and Archer spent the next couple of days in the hospital while Kaesia and I tried to manage without them. She was babysat a lot while I went to work and school so I promised her that Monday night, we would go on a date. We ended up going to feed the ducks and she was ecstatic. It was so good to see her having so much fun! 

Home, Sweet Home

Archer was discharged early Tuesday evening after having his week 4 tests (chest x-ray, ultrasound, audiogram, blood tests, etc.). He was so excited to come home! He has been running around (which makes it hard to keep up with him with all the tubes and pumps), talking up a storm and being quite the little jokester. He hasn't thrown up consistently for several days now and is generally feeling quite well. 

The Hard Part

Though things are going well right now, this last week and a half has been astonishingly difficult the majority of the time. Archer has been throwing up, attached to tubes 24/7 with his port accessed and having to take medicine every three hours to try and stop him from throwing up. Aubrey has been catching throw up, spending day and night at the hospital, feeling like a terrible mother because she goes days without seeing Kaesia and being overwhelmed by the constant attention that Archer requires. Kaesia has been having fun with the family that is babysitting her but has a hard time sleeping away from home and all she wants is for all of us to be together at home. 

Work and school is always busy but this past week, I had to have surgery to remove a pre-cancerous tumor that was found on my leg last month during my annual cancer checkup. I was expecting an excision site of about an inch or maybe two inches in length but it ended up being just over four inches long, an inch wide and about an inch and a half deep. This made it so I could barely walk for three or four days, making it even more difficult for Aubrey. 

There have been more times than I can count this week where we felt like we weren't going to be able to make it through the day. As Aubrey's mom pointed out, we were a pretty pathetic bunch with Archer attached to hoses, me not being able to walk, Kaesia looking like a homeless child because she hadn't bathed for a couple days and Aubrey wearing Scotch tape glasses from Archer's latest attempt at wearing them. 

There Is A Bright Side

Through all of this, we've had those redeeming moments that refresh our minds and help us pull through. Seeing Archer throw his hands up in the air and shout "Yay" in his most nasally voice whenever he gets to come home. Watching Kaesia chase a swarm of over 20 ducks, hurling stale bread at them and wondering why they don't just flock toward her. It is moments like that which make this bearable.

A bit of light shining through the cloud cover is that Archer's tests all came back great. The tumor in his liver has reduced almost 20% in size, his hearing is still at 100% and his counts are all great. And even though he has enterovirus, he has only had a minor fever, slight cough and stuffy nose. And according to the doctors, his hair should have fallen out by now. He may be one of VERY few that doesn't lose it after all.

Stormy Seas

Treatment #2

It all started with treatment #2. Archer was admitted on Tuesday (9/2) to undergo his second round of chemotherapy. Upon admittance, the decision was made to only give him one type of antiemetic, rather than the three that they alternated with the week prior. A short ways into the treatments, Archer started vomiting. At this point, they switched to alternating the three different antiemetics, but the damage had already been done. The doctor told us the week prior that once he starts throwing up, it is very difficult to stop it from happening so prevention is the key. Well, she was right. 

At work on Wednesday I got a phone call from Aubrey. She was in tears. She was frustrated that the nursing staff didn't give him the proper medications to begin with to prevent him from vomiting and that one of the techs lost her patience with Archer while trying to get his vitals. Aubrey told her to wait ten minutes until he calmed down from his tantrum. They had just given him some oral medication that he detests. She insisted on getting it right then and ended up forcing the various instruments on him and getting an inaccurate result, all the while telling him to calm down in a harsh tone. It didn't make matters better. 

Discharge and More Discharge

On Thursday, we were discharged from the hospital. He came home vomiting but happy to be out of the hospital. He kept little down on Thursday and on Friday, he got worse. Aubrey called PCH and spoke with the Fellow (Allison Ast) that we have been working with. She suggested a clear liquids only diet for 24 hours and instructed Aubrey to call her back if it was still happening at that time. She also prescribed Benedryl to be taken in addition to the Zofran that he already was. Several baths, dirty towels and a lot of cleanup later, we let Allison know that it was still happening. 

He needed antiemetics to keep from throwing up but everything we gave him, including the medications, was being thrown up within 10 to 15 minutes. She suggested giving him small amounts of liquid through a syringe every few minutes and if he hadn't had at least 2 more wet diapers by the evening, we needed to call and readmit him for rehydration. As you can probably guess, we ended up having to admit him. 

The Longest Night

We got to the ER at PCH just before 11. Apparently they were very busy and it took what felt like an eternity to get him in a room and start fluids. His blood sugar was low so they administered Dextrose along with the fluids. After a few hours hanging out there, we were admitted to our room a little after 5am. They had made a bed for us, which just seemed to taunt us as we still had to go over a few things before collapsing onto it. We finally got to bed around 6am, but I wasn't able to get much sleep. In fact, that is why I'm writing this.

Iced Cake

One of the things that made this week so difficult is that I am back in school now so I have been little help to Aubrey. She has been remarkable through all of this! I always knew that she was amazing but I had no idea she was this amazing. She has remained so positive and collected through all of this, even when a lot of the time, she has to handle it all on her own.

I have gone to school full time and worked full time for four and a half years now. It has been challenging but never really overwhelming. However, this semester (thankfully my last) has indeed been overwhelming. I haven't had more than 5 hours of sleep in a day for over two weeks. Most of time it's around 3.  I feel guilty that I am always gone when Aubrey, Archer and Kaesia are going through all of this at home and at the hospital. It is difficult to focus on anything for an extended period of time. And I feel like I am losing control of this well-oiled machine that we had tuned to near perfection. 

A Child's Outlook

Archer is the most good natured child I have ever seen in my life. I may be biased, I realize this. However, Friday, after throwing up 5 times within an hour, he smiled for Aubrey as she took his picture. He has been out of this world sick for the last few days and he has never cried. He is such an incredible example of patience!

We have missed Kaesia immensely as she is with family during our hospital stays and she has missed us as well. All of this is hard on her as well. She asks Heavenly Father to bless Archer in pretty much every prayer she gives and she has been so sweet to him, but you can tell that she is having a rough time with all of it. 

 

Strength in Numbers

The Falling of Many (Hairs)

Tomorrow starts Archer's second week of treatments and they said that he would start to lose his hair after this treatment. Following some advice from a dear friend, we decided to shave his head before all of his hair fell out on its own, in hopes to save some heartache. There were several people that wanted to support Archer in losing his hair by shaving their heads as well. Those that have shaved their heads so far are myself, grandpas Shayne and Neil, and uncles Bronson and Stephen. Uncles Spencer and Brett are going to join in as well and maybe Uncle Austin.

Since there were so many in Aubrey's family that wanted to
participate, we decided to do it all at the same time and have a head shaving party. Jennifer (Kendall) Jeppson came over and took family pictures before we lost all of our hair, and stayed to document the event. We got four sets of hair clippers and sat on the porch while our wives (Jennifer helped Steve) shaved our heads. We then took the clippers to Archer's head. It was quite a fun event and certainly helped to alleviate some of Aubrey's sorrow in having him lose his hair. Archer didn't like having his head shaved much but he sure does look cute! Thanks to all of those who are willing to look like snow globes to support Archer!

A Random Funny or Three

Here are a few quotes from our sweet little Kaesia over the last two days. As she sat on the toilet, she pointed her finger at Aubrey and said,

Mom, write this down. The days will go by. There is no reason to be sad. Because I'm right here. I love you so much that I didn't want candy besides... well... and also that we love our family very much all day long. And all day long we all say our names LOUD and we love our family and I love my brother and Santa likes to come by too and give me presents. Did you get all that? Did you write that down?"

Last night, Kaesia was showing my parents the "cool" way to hold up three fingers which, in case you didn't know, is holding up the pinky, ring finger and middle finger. Aubrey then told her that holding up her index finger, middle finger, and ring finger is actually more difficult. Kaesia then proceeded to correct her, "No, mom. This way is actually harder. For little kids. That is all I can do, mom. I can't do anything better than that."

After she finished drinking her cup of milk tonight, she walked over to Aubrey, handed her the empty cup and said, "I am officially done, Mom!" She is so adorable!