Are we there yet?

Sorry for the lack of updates lately but we have had a crazy busy time with hospital stays, Oscar's 2nd birthday, more hospital stays and Auden's 3rd birthday. We are just starting to get back to a slightly more normal life and I finally have a minute to explain where we are up to on this journey.

Oscar has completed the fourth and final methotrexate 24 hour drip (hooray!) and once again got mucusitis and had to go back in to hospital to be put on a drip and given pain medication. He has recovered very quickly though and yesterday in clinic his blood results were so good that they are going to move his bone marrow aspiration forward to tomorrow (he was booked for Monday). This is good news in that he has recovered so well and we can keep moving forward but it does mean we miss out on our two week break we had been looking forward to. Still, the quicker we start the quicker we finish.

So Oscar is fasting from midnight tonight and we are back in clinic tomorrow for the bone marrow aspiration. Monday we go back to clinic again and start the next phase of treatment which we have been advised is the toughest phase for most children. Its a complicated mix of steroids and many different chemo treatments - similar to the beginning phase. We will be monitoring Oscar's blood pressure in clinic as he may get high blood pressure again from the steroid (it is a different steroid this time but apparently stronger). Basically, he will be bombarded by very strong drugs in a specific protocol and due to the fact that his body has been through so much already it can be a very tough couple of months. There are no scheduled hospital stays but most children have at least one or two trips to emergency and stays during this time.

That's what they tell us but we feel positive Oscar will manage to get through it without too much trouble as he has proven time and time again to bounce back quickly. There are some chemo treatments that give mouth ulcers but not as severely as the methotrexate. There will be a lot of time spent in clinic waiting and having treatment but we get to sleep at home every night (not that sleep is likely but still). Oscar will be waking all through the night to eat due to the steroid making him so hungry but we have been through it before and know what to do.

This is the last two months of intensive treatment and all I could say to our Oncologist yesterday was: "Are we there yet?" She laughed and said anything can happen but your getting there.

Wish us luck tomorrow and thanks for all your kind messages and support. It means the world to us. x