April 30, 2007

Adrian is gradually recovering from mucoscitis... will ask doc to reduce the Morphine dosage tomorrow. He's feeling tired most of the day even though he slept a lot these days. CCF (Children's Cancer Foundation) organized a "facial" event for all mommies in the ward today and I pampered myself when baby was napping.

April 28 - 29, 2007

I sure hope the worst is over for Adrian's mucoscitis. While he was sleeping most of the day yesterday, he's awake most of the time today and he finally smiled. It's his first smile since Thursday. Adrian is still living on TPN & Morphine but at least he could eat a little which is a lot better than last time. Continued GCSF shot on both days but neutrophils was still at its trough @ 0.02. Dr. Chiang mentioned that one of the drugs (cisplatin) that will be used in the third chemo may affect his hearings as a side effect (causing Tinnitus). So baby will have to do a pre-screening test on hearing to assess the difference.

April 27, 2007

Adrian is feeling better today, at least he could sleep with the help of Morphine. The HMO this month is Dr. Chiang, he's very attentive and has started TPN on Adrian. So we didn't push him to eat knowing his mouth sore and that he'd get enough nutrients through TPN. Surprisingly, Dr Chiang prescribed GCSF shot for Adrian at this early stage. His logic is to boost up baby's neutrophils level so he can recover soon from mucoscitis on his own. It's the first time we were being "isolated" in the semi-private room since Adrian had fever before being admitted and with low red/white blood cell counts. There's pros and cons being in the semi-private room, Adrian seemed to be a little bored (& myself) as he likes to meet other people and he's not allowed to play in the library corner... however, we have more privacy and I even played some kids' VCD to baby today.

April 26, 2007

Adrian was discharged from the hospital last Thursday, in exactly a week's time, he's back to the hospital again! His next appointment was supposed to be Friday tomorrow. He was so cranky last night which was awful... First, we noticed he's got quite a few bruises over his legs and arms and secondly, his gum bled. Those were signs of low platelet counts... So we decided to take him back to the hospital a day earlier than planned and found out his platelet was only at 7!! He also had high temperature which is quite common for kids with low counts. So, he ended up back to K8N for at least a week for the antibiotics. What's worse is his mouth sore (i.e. his mucoscitis has finally come!!) and so he didn't eat well. At the end of the day, he had platelet transfusion and morphine injection to release his mouth pain. Let's hope he can have a good night sleep tonight!

April 25, 2007

Adrian had a good night sleep last night. He's never been home for that long and I think he's more used to it. On the other hand, I finally had time to upload some of the pictures from the cell phone online. It's sad to see how much damage chemo has caused and Adrian is now more skinny & his skin has turned darker...

Adrian was transferred back to K8N from ICU late Feb 2007.


Adrian in K8N early March 2007, noted that he still got hair...


Adrian had the GCSF Shot on his back on Apr 11th ... he's almost bald now!


Adrian enjoyed playing in the library corner.

April 24, 2007

Adrian slept most of the day today... he should be feeling tired as his count is dropping. I think we should get a new crib for him. However, I tend to find that cribs in HK are generally smaller than those in Canada. The one that he's sleeping now is too small and didn't intend for him to use it for that long (we thought he was going to use it for 2 weeks while we were in HK). There's two times when he got waken up just because he didn't have enough space to turn in the crib...

April 23, 2007

Today we took Adrian back to K8S - Day Ward for blood count and check up. As expected, Blood count shows that Adrian is low on Haemoglobin (at 7.3) and he needed a blood transfusion. The Houseman didn't come to draw Adrian's blood at around 13:30 for blood match and the blood didn't arrive until almost 19:00. It took 4 hours for the entire infusion and we didn't leave the hospital until 23:00! Adrian was fussy the whole day... noticed there's a red dot on his tongue. The nurse said it could be the starting of the oral mucoscitis as a side effect of high-dose chemotherapy. We have to go back again on Friday for another blood count and I think Adrian may need Platelet infusion that time.

April 21 - 22, 2007

Adrian is starting to get the separation anxiety these days. Papa & Mama can't seem to leave his eye sight, else he'll scream & cry really hard... He used to be an independent baby before but soon after being in ICU where parents are not allowed to stay overnight, Adrian seemed to be afraid that we might leave him again. On the other hand, baby didn't sleep well these days and luckily he can still eat (thanks God!!)! Will be back to K8S tomorrow for check up and not sure if he'll need to be hospitalized or sent home. We'll see...

April 20, 2007

Adrian slept through the night last night... hope that he's more used to his home in HK. He ate well today or maybe he's only eating 4 meals a day instead of 5. He enjoys listening to mother goose and watching Teletubbies when eating. However, he got paler today... his count is dropping!

April 19, 2007

We got sent home today. K8N is running out of beds and they are sending Adrian home for the moment. Baby had good appetite in the morning but very poor towards the end of the day. I think the chemo effects have started to kick in... Blood result shows that his haemoglobin is only at 8.8 and neutrophils dropped significantly to 0.96. Dr. Ho said blood infusion is needed when haemoglobin is below 8. So I believe Adrian may need one when he goes back to K8S on Monday for blood count and check up.

April 18, 2007

Adrian spent the night in the Treatment Room again as the nurse gave up soothing him back to sleep after spending 45 mins. He fell asleep in 15 mins in the Treatment Room!! 3rd day of chemo will run overnight til tomorrow morning. Dr Koo mentioned that they are going to weight Adrian tomorrow and if all goes well, he'll be sent home. I am, however, hesitant to leave the ward. Adrian is at his new low on weight and I know his mouth ulcers is coming... I wish he could get TPN and stay in the hospital for monitoring. Plus, he's happier in the hospital than at home!

April 17, 2007

Papa complained that Adrian didn't sleep last night. He woke up at 2am after a diaper change and didn't sleep until almost 6am in the Treatment Room. Yes - he got sent to the VIP (i.e. Treatment a.k.a. Dark Room) Room again. However, he behaved well during the day on his 2nd day of chemo. One strange thing is he liked the rice cereal so much in the past couple of days but today he totally disliked it.... no calcium intake again!

April 16, 2007

Adrian is feeling better today at the hospital. I think he's getting used to it than at home. 2nd cycle of chemo starts today! He had a good appetite during the day but then getting worse at night as the chemo started to kick in... he threw up 3 times at night feed. He only weighted 8.66kg now which is a new low... Met with the dietitian today and she's prescribed Adrian to take Polycal with the congee. 10 scoop of Polycal = 1 bowl of rice which should give Adrian extra calories that he needed. Hopefully his weight won't drop again...

April 15, 2007

Adrian has been so cranky in this 2 days... not sure if he didn't get used to the new environment (i.e. Home vs Hospital) or he was just not comfy. He woke up almost EVERY hour last night and has had a very good (strange?) appetite. I made rice cereal at 6am in order to soothe him back to sleep. Will have to mention this to the doctor tomorrow.

April 14, 2007

It's Adrian's big day today... he's officially 1 yr old!
Happy Birthday our dear son... If I could make a wish for you, I wish I were the one who suffer in return for your good health!!!

April 13, 2007

First day home today... Since his taste buds changed after chemo and have been refusing to drink milk, we made some rice cereal for baby this afternoon for snack so he can get some calcium out of it.

April 12, 2007

Blood test revealed that Adrian's Neutrophils level is up to 0.65. He can start chemo anytime as his protocol only required the minimum Neutrophils level to be 0.5. So Dr Koo has stopped the GCSF shot today. Because K8N is running out of beds, so they discharged Adrian instead of letting him have home leave. It's the first time he was being discharged since being admitted on Feb 12th!! However, we have to be back to the hospital by 8am on Monday to start the next cycle.

April 11, 2007

It's amazing to see how much Adrian ate today... he surpassed the 1,000 ml level!!! I've also tried feeding him milk+rice water using spoon and he took it which really surprised me! So I've concluded that he totally disliked using bottles. Adrian also tried the applesauce made from the hospital today and he ate all of it! Amazing, Amazing... Wish he could keep up this momentum. Adrian is officially off TPN & Morphine - that means he's more mobile now! He enjoyed playing with the toys and cart at the library corner.... Another GCSF shot today and blood will be drawn tomorrow to see his neutrophils level. Can't wait for home leave this weekend if all goes well.

April 10, 2007

Finally... baby had a good sleep last night. Morphine is now at 0.5ml/hr and he's officially off TPN. Adrian drank close to 200ml fluid today which shows a big improvement. His neutrophils went back down to 0.04 and Dr. Cheuk said his next chemo was due yesterday!! So, they gave him a granulocyte colony-stimulation factor (G-CSF) shot today. The same will be injected tomorrow in hopes to bring up his neutrophils level. Most likely, the next cycle should start next Monday and hopefully Adrian can have home leave this weekend. It's his 1st birthday this Saturday!!!

April 9, 2007

Another rough night last night...Have asked the doc not to take BP at night so baby can have good sleep. Adrian is famous for his screaming and crying at night in the ward. People in the ward said he's taking advantage of Papa. Dr Lee further reduced his morphine dosage from 1.2ml to 1.0ml. Baby seems to tolerate it so far but it's been a headache that he's been refusing fluid!!!!

April 8, 2007

Papa said baby didn't have a good night sleep last night... Morphine dosage has been reduced from 1.5ml to 1.2ml. Adrian seems to be OK so far.... The new H.O. didn't do a good job in drawing his blood, thus doing it twice to get the proper result. His neutrophils level is rising to 0.14 but still far from the 1.0 level. Haemoglobin dropped and he needed blood transfusion at around 16:30.

April 7, 2007

Another Saturday in the K8N Ward. Adrian is pretty content today. He continued to have good appetite and has almost resumed 80% of his normal consumption. Dr. Ha mentioned his morphine dosage can be reduced again from 1.5ml to 1.0ml tomorrow and also the possibility of cutting the TPN. We, however, are hesitant to do so.... Aunt Catherine made another "sweet water" for Adrian to try and he seems to like it better. He drank a total of 4 oz today but he refused to drink from bottle though....

April 6, 2007

BB slept through the night last night and woke up around 10am. Good appetite today which equals to 80% of his normal consumption. In-laws came to babysit Adrian at the hospital for a few hours and fed him congee around 6pm. And, he ate again at 9pm... amazing!! Looks like the 1.5ml morphine did the trick. The nurse withdrew BB's nose serum for test today as well.

April 5, 2007

Adrian was so fussy last night the next door neighbor complained and he got transferred to the treatment room to sleep. Everyone in the ward knows about him and feels pity for him. Fussy baby usually means he's unwell. Poor Adrian, his mouth is so sore that made him hard to fall asleep. So, we've asked the doctor to increase Morphine back to 1.5ml and he seems to feel better?!

April 4, 2007

Adrian was fussy last night and during the day. Very poor appetite today. Was it due to the decreased Morphine dosage?

April 3, 2007

Seeing slight improvement today that Adrian was less fussy when having congee. Introduced milk again but he refused to eat. Morphine dosage reduced to 1ml today.

April 2, 2007

Seeing new H.O. today. Adrian had 3 meals today and ate a total of 300 ml congee. Have asked the doctor to decrease dosage on Morphine from 2ml to 1.5ml. Gum bleeding starting this afternoon, brought it to doc attention at night and drew blood for test. Found out platelet only at 6... received 1 unit of platelet.

April 1, 2007

Big improvement that Adrian ate a total of 300 ml congee today!! Will talk to doctor tomorrow about reducing dosage on Morphine. Went shopping in CWB today and in-laws looking after baby at hospital.