Monday, December 8, 2008

Chemo Begins





Hello All,


We hope your week is going well.
There were no complications with Elijah's surgery to place the portocath Friday and we were admitted that evening. Here he is giving us a glimpse into his future as "Dr. Cutie-Pie Williams" shortly after we were admitted.
Elijah will be receiving 3 different chemo therapy drugs throughout the next 4 months. Although he receives 2 of the drugs once per week- every week, he must be admitted inpatient for 3 days and 2 nights every 3 weeks due to the severity of the side effects of one of the drugs (cysplatin). This drug was administered over several hours beginning at midnight on Friday. We were elated when more than 8 hours passed with no side effects. Unfortunately that elation was short lived as sickness abruptly awoke him from a restful nap after an exhausting day of charming the nurses and befriending several fellow pediatric oncology patients.
Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning were spent trying to manage Elijah's nausea and vomiting. By Sunday afternoon he was back to ruling the hallways and conquering the hearts of every nurse on the floor. The other 2 drugs were administered Sunday evening with no complications.
We would have been home Sunday night but his oncologist ordered a CT scan for Monday morning to make certain none of the "bad cells" formed into a tumor over the 6 weeks between surgery and this first chemo treatment. By Monday evening we were on our way back home. Other than an extreme loss of appetite and another bout of vomiting on the way home from the hospital, he seems to be doing well. God has Blessed Elijah with an amazing resilience and immeasurable strength.
Thank you all for fortifying his strength through your love and prayers.
~Dawn



6 comments:

The Princess said...

Boy is he the cutest ever, looking like his daddy with his mommy's gorgeous smile.!!! We will continue to keep all of you in our prayers that he gets through each session with as few complications as possible!!!
love me and the boys!!!!

Anonymous said...

Message from Karli after looking at Elijah's pic. "He looks awesome. He's cute, Mommy."

Anna Phillips said...

Dawn - I've been waiting for an update. I'm so glad to hear things are looking good. Elijah is amazing. I know that you know that. You are amazing too, and I hope that you know that. I love you!

Unknown said...

Look at him with his cute lil smile!!! So glad he's doing better! And he better get all his flirting with the nurses in now... he won't have time for that when he's in med school! :)
love you guys!

Unknown said...

Go Elijah! We love you little guy!

The Giampaolo's

Valencia said...

I am soo glad to see his smiling face. Give him love from Auntie VJ.