Blood & Platelets

Due to the harshness of the chemo, Kaden’s blood test showed that his platelets & haemoglobin were quite low, so he has received a transfusion of each. This wouldnt be possible without the generous blood donations that people give. Tonight I read on the blood delivery van that “1 in 3 people will require blood” but that only “1 in 30 donate”. There’s lots of people that are unable to, due to their previous place of residence or for a medical reason but if you haven’t donated & are willing to give it a go, please do. It’s so important that kids like Kaden who desperately need blood & platelets receive them.
  
 
Tonight when I arrived at the ward to swap out with Lee, I could here what sounded like very loud carols being played. Much to my suprise it was an actual choir from the Sydney men’s group. They sounded absolutely sensational! πŸ˜ƒ

    

Tonight, Kaden has a bit more energy & is happy singing along to the song on the cartoon πŸ˜ƒ

  

FeverΒ 

Late last night, Kaden began developing a fever, by 1am it was around 38.3, which is basically hospital admission. Lee & Kaden spent the night in an isolation room in emergency. I sent Lee home for some much needed rest, we’re still currently in emergency, waiting for another isolation room to become available on ward. At 5am they began administering 2 antibiotics. Kaden is now neutropenic (no immune system). 

  

Rough night

One of the many side effects of chemo, is the breakdown of the lining from your mouth down to your bowel. This can be extremely painful & cause copious amounts of thick mucus to build up in your throat. Unfortunately, Kaden was experiencing a very sore throat from this, last night. It breaks my heart to see our son in pain like this, life really is just so unfair. As parents, from the moment they are conceived, you do everything to protect your child, but how do you protect them from something as horrible as cancer, when you have no control over it. Some days, we feel so helpless, we would do anything to take all of this away, to have Kaden going to school, riding his bike, playing with his friends at the park & attending their birthday parties. Some days I sit here & think how did we get here???  Tonight when you put your kids to bed, give them an extra cuddle & let them know just how much you love them, for life as you know can change in a split second. 

  
Movie Adventure

After the rough night & having a car available, we decided to suprise the boys & take them to see Hotel Transylvania 2! They were both very excited when they realised what they were seeing. The movie was fantastic & very funny throughout, hearing our boys laugh & enjoying themselves is the best! 

  

Site seeing

Today we made the most of Sydney’s sunny weather & took the boys site seeing. They loved the drive over the bridge & were surprised to see lots of people climbing it! Kaden did well in climbing the stairs all the way to the top! 

   
     

 
It’s great to be able to be out & about without having to catch the bus & train πŸ˜ƒ As pretty as the tourist attractions are in Sydney, as the saying go’s…..’there’s no place like home!’

 

 

All sleeping in one place!

Last night was the first night a long time that we were all able to sleep at the apartment. It was great to not have to pack for the hospital stay πŸ˜ƒ

Today we had a special visit from the Taylor family, it was so good to catch up with them all, the boys had a ball playing with Reece & Charlotte πŸ˜ƒ Thanks to their very generous offer of loaning us their car, today was the first time in 4.5 months that I was able to do the shopping without stressing if i had forgotten something. It really is the little things like having a car to drive around in that we all take for granted. After the year that we have had, I don’t think there is really anything that we will take for granted again. 

  

Party Day & Discharge

Today was officially named “Party Day” at the westmead hospital. It was fantastic to see all the staff dressed up & the wards decorated so beautifully. Santa made a special appearance & visited every child & gave each one a cool teddy bear. There was face painting, photo booth, lots of characters & pony rides. 

We were given the awesome news that Kaden could be discharged today πŸ˜ƒ We know he normally gets a fever with chemo, which means instant admission, but we’re going to try & make the most of the days he’s feeling ok πŸ‘πŸ»

  
  
  
   
   

Award Day

This morning, the kids from the junior & senior classrooms put on a little presentation of the things they had done through the year & also to celebrate Christmas. They all did such an amazing job, singing & displaying their art. One part of the presentation involved certificates being presented to the children, much to our suprise, the first name called out was Kaden. It was such a lovely suprise for both Kaden & us. Kaden was proud as punch accepting the award πŸ˜ƒ Liam had a special part in the presentation as a Koala. He was super cute & so excited & happy that Kaden, Lee & I were there to watch him. Liam was very happy to also receive an award for his progress & always going to school with a smile. πŸ˜ƒ

   
  Over the last few nights, Kaden has been spending a bit of time in a special playroom that’s for kids like Kaden who have been or are in isolation. He’s been having a great time playing the WII & PlayStation in there. 

  
This morning, Kaden had a dance off with Anne to the song “let’s get ridiculous”. He even had a special audience of his doctors who were able to watch some of Kaden’s great dance moves πŸ˜ƒ

Today we were almost discharged, however Kaden’s blood work showed alleviated white blood cells which can sometimes indicate infection. They will check it again tomorrow & see if they have settled down overnight. 

Tomorrow is officially known as “Party Day” at the hospital. All the wards have been busy getting creative with a theme. Kaden’s ward have chosen to do “Disney Princess”, the nurses have done an amazing job of decorating the ward πŸ‘πŸ»

   

  

De-accessing tonight!

Kaden had a much better night. Late yesterday afternoon, his rash had started to clear & he was able to get some much needed rest. 😴 He slept off & on for most of the afternoon until around 10pm. He woke up & decided that he was hungry but after trying to eat, felt quite nauseous. 

Overall, Kaden has been pretty good today, he has even managed to eat a few pieces of vegemite toast which is fantastic, considering he wasn’t able to eat anything, when he was on this type of chemo previously. 

The doctors have decided that they will complete Kaden’s antibiotics tonight & de-access him from his port giving him more freedom to venture out of the ward πŸ˜ƒ

  
Over the last few days, Liam & I have been spending a bit of time in the newly refurbished starlight room. This has given us both a bit of time off the ward, but also more time for Liam to play with some of the other kids who also have siblings in the hospital. 

  

Chemo

Kaden’s chemo started yesterday. He was so good all day, eating, playing the Xbox & watching his iPad. Unfortunately, like the last round, Kaden has developed another nasty rash all over him. πŸ˜₯ We were hoping that this would be his last round, however I was advised this morning the teams are keen to give him another form of chemo when we return to Perth. This has been such a long horrible year & we were looking forward to putting it all behind us. 

Cancer is a cruel disease, it doesn’t just involve chemo with its numerous side effects like hair loss, ability to walk, changing of taste buds, hearing loss but also numerous surgical procedures both big & small. It’s hard for an adult to deal with all of this, but a child? A child that should be running around with his friends, going to school, enjoying the summer at the beach but instead he is going through all of this. What I wouldn’t give to have our boy healthy again, to take all of this away & to give him the childhood that he should be having.