The race...

It’s another race to see who will be discharged first… Liam or Bridgett/Troy. Late yesterday, Liam decided to resurrect his fever. He and I spent the night at Mass General; he had an ok night, good morning. He’s going to be discharged as soon as they give him another dose of antibiotics. The dr.’s will watch his blood cultures for another 24 hours; we’ll delay his next chemo treatment for at least a day. (It was originally supposed to happen tomorrow).


Troy and Bridgett are just about ready to go as well. They’re being held up because Bridgett’s blood pressure was a little high over night and this morning, but it’s on its way down now. I think there’s a direct correlation to Liam’s temperature going up and down and Bridget’s blood pressure going up and down.

So we’ve got the two poppa’s doing pickup and driving duty, and hopefully we’ll all be back in Mansfield within a few hours…

It's a ... Troy

Troy joined us at 2:15 pm today. Weighing in at 7 lbs, 15 ounces, 21 inches long. (Still no middle name....)

The boys came in to meet their little brother, everyone is exhausted, but doing well. Bridge and Troy did great!!

So we enjoyed our few days of "quiet" time. It is still a struggle to get Liam to eat. Yogurt, oyster crackers and a bottle seems to be the only things he is interested in... Owen and Jack are happy things have returned to normal. Tomorrow it starts again. Bridgett, having made it to 38 1/2 weeks, is being induced. Pictures and details should be posted sometime late Monday night. Thursday starts the next 5 day round of chemotherapy for Liam. We'll spend Thursday in Boston, maybe Friday as well, after that we hope to make use of the VNA to do "home infusions"... it all depends how Liam is doing, but it will be nice to cut down the trips to Boston.

Once again, we are back home

Liam was finally discharged today after receiving his final radiation treatment this morning, as well as managing to hold down some milk and show interest in eating. We have to keep a close eye on his eating/drinking to make sure he's getting what he needs, but it's nice to all be home again.... thanks for the flood of email that came in, keeping me encouraged to keep going and many for a good laugh. I'm hoping for at least 48 hours of peace and "family time" before any major happenings around here...

Telling it like it is

Ok, so this sucks. Moving into day three of fighting the temp and not eating. The good news is that Liam’s white blood cell count is on the way back up, and the dr.s have pretty much ruled out a bacterial infection; by default we’ll just call it viral.
So if Liam will eat or drink a little today, and keep the temp under 100, we have a chance of getting out tomorrow. With the white count coming back up, it’s looking somewhat optimistic, just in time to turn around for radiation on Tuesday and Wednesday…. Yes, did I say it already? “This sucks”.

In other news, Bridgett has now predicted hat she’ll make it to her due date, maybe longer. No progress on the baby pool questionnaire though…

Update - the questionnaire is ready. It ended up being less of a "baby pool" and more of a form of entertainment for me while Liam and I spend our days up on Ellison 17. Email me your responses. Anyone getting most answers correct, or at least making me laugh will receive a MassGeneral hospital pillow case. (Available only in white).

Here are the questions...
1) By what mode of transportation will Bridgett make it to her next unplanned hospital visit? (Drive herself, call for a ride, etc…)
2) Person most suited to be the backup labor coach for Bridgett in the event Meghan is still in the hospital with Liam.
3) Person least suited to be the backup labor coach for Bridgett in the event Meghan is still in the hospital with Liam.
4) If Liam is in the hospital when Bridgett goes into labor, should she deliver at MassGeneral, or stick with her own doctor's at Sturdy memorial?
5) While 1st names for the baby have been chosen, the middle name is still open. Your suggestion.
6) How much longer will relatives and friends continue to put up with Lucy and Daisy getting into the garbage and making a mess? . What most likely will be their demise?
7) Will Liam get a new brother or new sister?
8) Who will need a prescription refill first; Liam - Neulasta, Meghan - Alprazolam, Bridgett - Dilaudid?

The almost "End of Radiation" party

We were 2 hours away from Liam’s last radiation treatment, when we took a little detour. Sometime between 10am and 2pm yesterday, Liam spiked a 101.9 temperature, which is an automatic admission ticket to the floor. So here we are again. Rocky night, but the Tylenol is helping Liam stay comfortable, and he was immediately put on antibiotics while they look for the source of the temp. It could be a multitude of things, or it could just be the combination of chemo and radiation catching up to him. Either way, we’ve been promised a minimum 48 hour stay while they watch the blood cultures. In lieu of his last proton radiation treatment, he’ll pick up two photon treatments on Tuesday and Wednesday so the end of radiation party has been postponed a few days.

No movement on the baby front. Most people are now convinced it’s a girl, with all the trouble it’s causing. I’m sticking with my “boy” guess. I’m thinking of starting a pool in the form of a multiple choice questionnaire. Liam’s napping now, so I’ll see how far I can get with it before he wakes up…

A quick update

ok - No plans to have a baby today, at least no plans to induce labor. Later this month, Bridgett may get her own blog site for kidney stone updates...

Me, Liam and Nana are headed to Boston for the day for the last day of radiation and a DOUBLE at that... If Bridgett does go into Labor today, most of her potential labor coaches are out of town. Two of us are in Boston, one in New Hampshire, one in Connecticut, and one in the Caribbean... everyone else, keep your cell phones on!!!!

We’re all back home again.

Bridgett finally made it home last night.
Liam was discharged after radiation this morning.
If we can get through the rest of this week, particularly Friday, I’ll think we’ll be ok.

So Friday is going to be Liam’s LAST day of radiation… the proton machine is going to be down Aug 20th (Monday), so instead, he’ll have a double dose on Friday (9am and 3pm). Makes for a long day since he can not eat 8 hours before anesthesia, 2 hours before for clear liquids. Basically he’ll be living on apple juice on Friday.

AND

Ms. Kidney Stone herself is being followed closely for high blood pressure (as is Liam). Rumor has it she’ll be induced Friday. (Dr.s appointment tomorrow to confirm). So what’s everyone doing Friday?? I think we’ll have some free time to spare between 5 and 6am...

Double Doctor Days

We have a saying in our house called "double doctor days"... On any given day, seems like there is at least two people in the household who have doctor's appointments. Liam's a given, Bridgett a close second, then the boys, myself, and we even include the dogs. (Lucy's eye growth is coming back strong).

So now we have a new situation to name. It's one thing to have an appointment, another to have multiple hospital admissions. So while Liam and I are here in Boston, Bridgett is down at Sturdy with those pesky Kidney stones again. (Couldn't convince her to come to Mass General so that she and Liam could at least share a room). I'd solicit feedback for a name for this situation - but I'm scared of the feedback! :)

So... many thanks to Nina and Poppa, and Nana and Popa... They're running around watching the other two, and providing bedside relief, even delivered some Pinot Grigio to my room last night which went very well with the cafeteria Arroz con Pollo.

Greetings from MGHfC

So here we are, already made it through the first night of Liam's second cycle of chemo. As promised, I've created a schedule to post online of what life looks like for the next few months... or what we think it will look like. Liam's view of the week starts on a Thursday, as this is when we started radiation, and it will be Thursday's when each new cycle of chemotherapy will start. It's somewhat wishful thinking that we'll be able to stick to this schedule, as there are many things that could happen along the way to throw it off....but we'll see.

Liam's schedule

So we're here for four more nights... bet I'll have lots o post about over the next few days.

We haven't noticed that much of a change in Liam...

...but we are taking some protective measures anyway.
You can tell it's the weekend, we are enjoying a little down time from radiation.

Long day yesterday, but as usual Liam was a trooper. Three hours at the proton center, and another four hours at the clinic for a blood transfusion. It just occurred to me, I haven't posted an updated picture in a while, so I'll try to get one soon.

Lots of inquiries about the designated blood donor program. I went to the blood center at MGH and set this up yesterday. You need a form signed by me or Bridge to take with you when you go donate, so email us your address so we can send you a form. Otherwise, it's pretty straight forward, no appointment needed (unless you want to give platelets too).

Kidney stone update: Bridge is hanging in there, but has not passed the stone; long day for her yesterday as well. She's hoping to make it through at least three more weeks.. we'll see!