Colin Loves Tractors » Music Therapy

Chemoed Out

Mom — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:35:38 +0000

Colin is officially chemoed out. After blazing through Tuesday’s drugs, he sagged on Wednesday, and the latter half of the day through early Thursday he spent either sleeping or very green around the gills.

Despite talk of a possible discharge, Colin’s queasiness made that impossible, though we are still entertaining the idea for Friday. We welcome [...]

Colin, the Blue(s) Man of Memphis

Mom — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:23:48 +0000

Now for a long and eventful update. Briefly, Colin enjoyed his first trip “home,” which happened during the Target House 10th Anniversary. Because he wasn’t really stabilized on several fronts, he went back to St. Jude. This happened while Mom was away for work, and not long after she returned, Colin was discharged again with [...]

Music Therapy Videos

Dad — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 21:27:10 +0000

Here are video links to music therapy from NYU and a special moment between Colin and Amy Grant.

NYU Martha :

Video 1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGCXJGHjz_c

Video 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGy4vRASnM0

Amy Grant – Singing the Colin Blues Song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LObHCl63boU

Breathing Easy

Mom — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:54:33 +0000

Colin is in the ICU recovering from the installation of a trach tube. He also has a new MRI done this morning and we will discuss the results of that when Dr. Gajjar is back in town next week.

After the trach hole has healed, Colin is slated to start chemo. The first drug is methotrexate, [...]

Still in the Klink

Mom — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:22:26 +0000

We have definitely deferred bringing Colin “home” to the Target House until we (read: the medical team) have resolved some of the lingering issues whose causes are not 100% certain. For one thing, we are suctioning his trach like crazy. The doctors need to resolve whether we think he is secreting more or managing his [...]

Kiss Your Baby Now

Mom — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:10:22 +0000

Life in the hospital always has an underlying tension, as the situation can change dramatically over the course of days or moments. We watched Colin’s condition deteriorate gradually over several days, with a mounting sense of urgency from the floor pediatricians. We later realized that he was seen by the “pediatric response team,” which is [...]

(little)manscaping

Mom — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 02:25:46 +0000

Colin may have a budding career as a Geico caveman, or perhaps a more mundane sideshow act as a wolf boy. We have noticed thick hairs sprouting on his forehead, giving him the beginnings of uni-forehead (forget uni-brow — we’ve moved way beyond that). Dark whorls grow like moss on his back.

The new hirsuteness is [...]

Two Steps Forward…

Mom — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:40:56 +0000

Today, Colin was definitely less sleepy although still quite congested and having a hard time keeping his oxygen saturation high enough. He received an oxygen blow-by all day and wore a mask when venturing out on the stroller. This required the hardware of an oxygen tank on wheels (absent the tank these tend to look [...]

Awaiting the G-Tube

Mom — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:23:24 +0000

On Wednesday, Colin was scheduled to repeat the swallow study, though it was widely thought that he would likely fail. Melissa, who did the first swallow study, sensed this and asked to visit him clinically before conducting a study. She suggested that he needed at least a week before retesting.

However, we realized that the question [...]

Tuesday Surgery

Mom — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:45:03 +0000

There is no such thing as certainty. Colin’s surgery has been moved up to Tuesday, following a trip to the emergency room late Sunday. All day, he had seemed more agitated than usual and probably experiencing pain. He slept only while nursing and had a difficult time going to sleep. When he finally did, he [...]