Colin Loves Tractors » sibling support

True North

Mom — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 05:24:41 +0000

Colin is in remission, and it now seems easier to utter the words aloud. His scan from January was still “stable,” with Dr. Gajjar now asserting that the sliver of “whatever” that cradles Colin’s brain stem is scar tissue. He further stressed that surgery would not help and would only cause more damage (duh!). All [...]

Boomerang Boy

Mom — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:08:48 +0000

After days of struggling with the aftermath of chemo, Colin started to perk up a bit, so he emerged from the hospital after 25 days. Of course, he has very happily been out of the hospital during that time, yet not technically an outpatient.

The whole process was a little confusing, as Dr. DeWire told us she [...]

Awesomeness is Free of Charge

Mom — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:57:17 +0000

St. Jude has Kung Fu Panda in its DVD library, which I have never seen in its entirety. However, I did at least catch the beginning one day during chemo while snuggling with Colin and immersing myself in the Jack Black-ness of the intro, a dream sequence in which the headline panda exhibits true kung [...]

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 [...]

Third Eye Patch

Mom — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:41:30 +0000

Today, it seemed that the eye patch gods had finally smiled upon us: the arrival of a nice bundle of pediatric eye gauzes. Also, incongruously (so it seemed), a bag for capturing urine. Well, all of it related to the same thing: urinalysis before and during the methotrexate infusion that started on Saturday at around [...]

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, [...]

Graceland

Mom — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:54:13 +0000

Colin has been at the center of a whirlwind of activity. He has continued to improve following the installation of the shunt. However, on Thursday morning, we noticed that his heartrate was unusually low (in the 50s). More alarmingly, it wouldn’t budge even with stimulation, such as moving, PT, suctioning, etc.

Even though there was a [...]

You Should See the Other Guy

Mom — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:33:18 +0000

Colin’s surgery on Monday went swimmingly, a marvel of coordination between the general surgery and neurosurgery teams. The doctors assembled in the play room and worked out which side of his body each would use; both involved tunneling procedures that necessitated that their lines did not cross.

In the end, the mediport went in on his [...]

GRRRRR = Colin’s Tummy

Mom — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:51:14 +0000

Yesterday, Colin was extubated successfully. One of the sedatives caused him to generate a lot of secretions, so his breathing sounded very juicy and uncomfortable. He moved his legs constantly and didn’t seem to settle. It was disconcerting to watch but the doctors were unable to give him anything stronger than Tylenol for fear of [...]