It has been a while since we have updated the blog, so we just wanted to do a quick update. Ethan is doing quite well. He has regained his energy, and is running around and playing. The only difference in him from pre-diagnosis, is that he is a little more tired, a little more clingy, and he won't eat! He is doing really good, though. We are still going in for weekly chemo treatments. He has 2 weeks left, and he will be finished with his 2nd phase! Whoo hooo!
He has received blood a couple of times, and had a hard time with some of the chemo, but we have been greatly blessed that the chemo he really struggled with hasn't seemed to effect him as much this time. We are SO grateful for that! Ethan also got a new picc line again. His old one was leaking. They moved it to his other arm, which has been very confusing to him. He keeps handing me and the nurses his right arm, and then searching to see where his line went before he remembers that it was switched to his left arm! It's really rather cute! He also developed antibodies in his blood, so it takes an overnight search to find a blood match for him now, where it used to just take a couple of hours. This makes things a little bit harder, because if he needs blood, we have to go back into clinic the next day instead of doing it while we are already there.
After this phase, Ethan will be doing a few hospital stays. He will go in for 3-4 nights every other week for 2 months (so a total of 4 stays). None of us are looking forward to doing the hospital again, but hopefully all will go well, and it will just be a few days! The chemo they will be giving him requires him to be monitored, and to be on fluids.
As a family, we are adjusting to our "new normal", and looking forward to Christmas. The kids are so great to help with whatever Ethan needs, and they know more medical terms than any kid should, but it has all become second nature to them, and us!
If Ethan's treatment stays as planned, he will be doing 6 more months of chemo before he goes into maintenance, where he will still get chemo, but only once a month. He has to wait for his blood counts to rebound between each month, so we are hoping to be finished in July, and then go into maintenance. Maintenance will last another 2 1/2 years.
As always, we have truly been blessed by both our Heavenly Father, and so many of you! We are so grateful for the blessings we have received, and wish you all a very merry Christmas!
