Fri, 17 Sep 1999 13:05

3 weeks down, 3 to go

Hello.

Hope everyone survived Floyd. We spent the night before the expected storm at a hotel near Duke so Logan wouldn't miss any treatments. The boys went wild with the TV and remote control and I let them for once.

It has been several weeks since we've sent a 'Logan update'. Logan has been handling his daily radiation treatments and weekly chemotherapy very well thus far. Today he reached the halfway mark at 3 weeks down and 3 more to go. He hasn't had any nausea, skin burning, or extreme tiredness (besides the normal toddler tiredness from waking up each morning at 6 am so that Mom can leave by 6:30 am for DUMC). His radiation oncologist said he is tolerating the treatments much better than most people. Please pray specifically that he won't have any reactions and that the treatment will do what it is supposed to do - zap any cancer cells. [It is very important that the tumor does not grow back during this phase or we will have no treatment choices except total cranial/spinal radiation which will mess up Logan's growing brain; stunt his growth; destroy his thyroid, pituitary; etc.]

Life for us has been mostly 'normal' this past month as Logan did not have to be isolated at home. Last week, however, we did need to isolate him as his ability to fight infection was low (he was neutropenic due to an ANC of 705 where 1000 is the lowest accepted value). But, some positive news is that today's blood work was back to normal! Please continue to pray that he keeps his blood counts up.

Logan had a neuropsychological test the Monday after labor day. The purpose of the test was to get an idea of how he is developing as compared with his age group - the average 'almost 3 year old'. The test lasted for half the day and consisted of interviews with Mom about Logan and lots of interactive 'play' between Doctor Katie and Logan. Also, Logan was instructed to do various tasks such as describe shapes, draw lines, tell who has more blocks, etc. Doctor Katie will be mailing us the results in two weeks; but, she said Logan was developing normally with the exception of a 8 month delay in his gross motor abilities (balance, jumping, walking down stairs, etc.) which is consistent with having medulloblastoma (a tumor on the balance center). She listed as strengths for his age his ability with numbers (he can count over 10 objects and repeat a long string of numbers) and knows his colors and shapes. He has excellent fine motor skills (like threading small beads on a string and unbuttoning buttons). We have not really been concerned with developmental delay issues and we didn't learn anything that we didn't already know; but, it was pretty interesting to observe and be a part of his testing process.

Logan will turn 3 on October 7 right after radiation and before his bone marrow transplant (bmt). Is this good timing or what? We are in the early stages of learning about this upcoming bmt - we will keep you updated.

We can't thank everyone enough for your prayers and the thoughtfulness that you've shown us during this time. God has blessed us with many supportive people that seem to pop up whenever there is a need for childcare, listening, meals, etc.

Laura and family