A Roller Coaster of Emotions!!

Well, I wanted to give everyone the latest on my Carter-Man! He is still proving to be a fighter!! Thank the Lord for that:) Sunday was another roller coaster of a day for Carter. He had been off of the vent for almost 3 days. There was mention of him moving back to HEM/ONC. As soon as that was mentioned, BOOM, another hill to climb. His breathing was fast again so...back to pressure support on the vent. After that, all was calm! Sunday afternoon, Caroline and I came up after being at home. Carter was so very thrilled to see us. We stayed at the Ronald McDonald House that night. Monday was good as he came off of the vent in the morning and seemed to be doing good. We took him outside for a walk and to the playroom (where his sister piled all kinds of toys on top of him). He stayed in his chair for about 3 hours watching movies. That was his longest stretch yet! That afternoon, we watched movies and he laughed so hard. We were watching Home Alone and I could not stop laughing and neither could he. It was GREAT!!!! Caroline and I went to the Ronald McDonald House to stay. Soon after we arrived, Skip called to say that Carter's heart rate was VERY elevated and his blood pressure was low. I WAS SHOCKED! He was so good when I left. As time went on, his heart rate slowed (after bolus's of saline water) and his blood pressure stabilized. He also had a high temperature. They told Skip there was obviously an infection and Carter had become septic- meaning something had affected his blood stream! Carter's heart rate remained ok but his blood pressure was on the lower side so they gave him a medicine to bring that up. Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day he slept most of the day and his color slowly returned to normal, as did his blood pressure. His blood counts showed his white blood cells were very high which means he was definitely fighting something- that is great for a child who is on chemo!!! His body reacted the way it was designed to do!! He received red blood cells yesterday because his were low. He had an episode last night where his heart rate was lower than normal and showed some irregularity. That has happened before when his heart rate was low. They did do an EKG (waiting on results) and a chest x-ray (that was fine). Last night he slept until about 4 am when he woke up wide awake! The nurse was very glad to see him awake and his color was great! They have taken him off of the medicine for his blood pressure and are going to wean him from the vent today. Hopefully, we are in the right direction!!! His blood counts are good this morning and we are hoping when he wakes again he will be his happy little self! Please say extra prayers for the Carter-Man today!!! He needs them:) I will post again when I know about the blood cultures that were drawn and the EKG results!!

Love to you all,

Courtney