Keeping us on our toes

Good old Cameron, always full of surprises for his poor, exhausted parents!
Just when we thought we had seen the last of the Children's Hospital for a while, Cameron had other plans.

Cameron has had a cough for a couple of weeks, I look him to see our pediatrician and she prescribed an antibiotic for a sinus infection that was causing a post-nasal drip and making him cough.  At that point, his lungs sounded clear.  Last week, after Cameron came home from preschool, I noticed that his ear was draining.  This is his forth ear infection in a couple of months, so off we went, back to the pediatrician.  As soon as we got into the doctor's office, Cameron started to run a low grade fever of 99.5 Fahrenheit (37.5 Celsius).  If Cameron's has a fever of 100.5 Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), we have to head straight to the emergency room, so I prepared myself to brave the rush hour traffic and make our way to the hospital.  A few minutes later, the nurse retook his temperature and it had shot up to 101.9 (38.8).  The doctor listened to his chest and heard an obvious crackling sound in his lungs, just to be safe, she put him on a monitor to check his oxygen saturation - it was 86%!  Cameron was given oxygen and the pediatrician called 911 - there was no way I could get Cameron to the hospital fast enough and he needed to be kept on oxygen until we got there. 

Of course, I had James with me at the pediatrician, and I was told that he wouldn't be allowed to ride in the ambulance with Cameron and I.  Once again, I had to call on the help of my dear friend Leigh - I honestly don't know what we would have done without this woman over the last year and a half.  She has cared for James so many times while Cameron has been in hospital, she is an absolute godsend!  Leigh came to the rescue and picked James up from the pediatrician's office and Cameron and I hopped into the Ambulance.  About 2 minutes into our trip, the EMT informed me that he couldn't get the oxygen monitor to work - Cameron was getting oxygen, but there was no way to tell if he was getting enough and what his oxygen saturation was.  FANTASTIC!  I suggested that this might be a good time to put the sirens on and get us to CHOA (Children's Hospital of Atlanta) as quickly as possible!  Because we couldn't monitor Cameron's vitals, we tried to keep him awake and made him talk to us.  The EMT asked him several times if he was OK, to which he replied every time with "Yes, I OK"!

Once we got to the hospital, he was given a breathing treatment and he stabilized quickly.  Antibiotics were started and x-rays were taken.  It was confirmed that he had pneumonia and he was admitted to the Aflac Cancer Unit.

After a good night's rest, Cameron was up and his usual cheerful self.  He was able to keep his oxygen saturation above 96% without help and even showed some interest in eating and drinking.  His labs showed that he had bacterial pneumonia, which is not contagious.  He bounced back remarkably quickly and only had to stay in hospital for 3 days.  Cameron's overall immune system was tested, while he was there.  It didn't come as a huge surprise that his immune system is on the low side, so he will be given a treatment called IVIG therapy once a month from now on and he will be retested in 6 months to see if it has been effective.

Before we were discharged from the hospital, Cameron got an opportunity to have a video chat with Santa.  It was absolutely adorable.  Santa was told Cameron's name and age in advance, so when Cameron heard Santa say his name - he was amazed.  Santa Claus then said to Cameron, "Now, Cameron, I believe you are three years old".  To which Cameron replied, in a mildly irritated voice, "No, James is three - I am TEN!!"  Poor Santa, Cameron is difficult to argue with! 

Cameron is still on antibiotics, but he is well and truly on the mend!  Let's hope we don't have anymore excitement until AFTER Christmas!

Final Round of Treatment

Let me start by apologising for how long it's taken me to type up this blog post! 

I guess I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that, after 15 months of being in and out of hospital every few weeks, Cameron has completed his final inpatient treatment.  It's bizarre! It's surreal!  It's completely terrifying!

Cameron's fifth round of treatment was a difficult one, certainly not the worst we have experienced, but he had a lot of pain and he threw up several times - which was unusual.  I felt like we were going through chemotherapy all over again with the amount of yukky laundry that I had to do!  Despite the pain, nausea and the fact that he required oxygen again - he pushed through it and was able to complete his treatment, becoming the first child in Atlanta to receive a full dose of Antibody Therapy at the fastest rate.  Quite an achievement, I am so incredibly proud of him - his strength and tenacity is awe-inspiring to Frank and I.

Our final day in the hospital was an extremely emotional one for me.  People kept asking me if I was excited that Cameron's treatment was over, and every time they asked, I burst into tears.  Those of you that know me, know that I don't cry easily.  I try to keep my emotions in check, especially around Cameron and James, but I just couldn't control it that day.  The truth is that, of course I am thrilled that my baby won't have to go through the terrible suffering that these treatments cause him, I'm ecstatic that he has been able to get all of his treatment with minimal complications, but at the same time there is the overwhelming fear that this horrendous disease could come back.  The thought of not actively fighting this cancer, just sitting around waiting for Cameron to be scanned every 3 months, waiting to hear if my beautiful boy has relapsed, fills me with absolute terror and dread.  So no, I really wasn't excited that his treatment was complete, if it were up to me I would give him chemotherapy once a month, forever - just to keep this cancer away from my child.

A couple of days after Cameron came home from hospital, he went back in to have his CVL (Central Venous Line) removed.  Now that's something that I definitely won't miss!  Cameron has been very fortunate that he has only ever had one central line, it's very common in children - especially of this age - that the line has to be replaced at least once.  The lines get infected or the kids pull them out or damage them and they need to be replaced, but for some reason we got lucky and Cameron had the same one for his entire treatment.  Of course, the fact that he had had the same one for so long, meant that all of the original sutures/stitches had come loose and there was nothing holding it in place.  A firm tug and that line would have been out.  Nerve wracking when you have a very active 3 year old and his inquisitive twin.  I am still not used to the fact that it's not there anymore - I still feel for it when I pick him up and I still worry about it, for a split second, anytime he climbs anything or falls over.  When I ask Cameron where his "tubes" are, he still points to his chest, when I tell him that they are not there anymore, he looks at me like I have lost my mind!

Cameron will go in for scans in early January.  In the mean time we are  adjusting to being a "normal" family.  We will put our Christmas tree up this weekend and have Santa photos taken (without a hospital backdrop), we will decorate gingerbread houses and start our family Christmas traditions, we will start potty training, and most importantly, we will make the most of every second that we are home together as a family!