Last Day of Chemo...For This Week

His nurse Michelle wasn't working on Matthews birthday, so she had his room decorated today to make up for it:

Feliz Cumpleaños a T

SO...Matthew's chemo is starting to affect him. He's a lot more nauseous, but he still hasn't gotten sick. He takes a lot more nauseous pills than he did last time. He can also pull his chest hair out really easily this week.

Today is Matthew's 17th birthday! During chemo today, Dr. Williams and his nurses Jodi, Sasha, Jessica, and Kate came into his room to sing to him and give him two movie tickets. The Phoenix Children's Clinic has such awesome staff. My mom and T love them.

Nick Rockwell came in to the clinic to give him a gift and spend time with him too. He got T books by Barney titled "The Playbook" and "The Bro Code." If you have seen How I Met Your Mother, then you will understand why these books are so hilarious. They are perfect for T because that is one of his favorite shows.

After dinner, we carved pumpkins as a family. I love carving pumpkins! We all gathered around our island and went to work. Of course though, this can't be just an innocent activity with my family. After we developed our designs and started actually carving, the "trash talk" began and it turned into a competition to see who would have the best pumpkin. Everything we do seems to turn into a race of some sort, but that makes everything fun.

I was using a really sharp knife to carve mine, and the ENTIRE TIME Matthew kept telling me that I shouldn't be using that knife because I don't have my tote and chip. That is a certificate you get in scouts to use knives. Cute and protective brother, right?...No! He just wanted to seem better than me because he has his. What he doesn't know, is that I have had extensive knife training for one of my past government jobs. (just kidding) But I did carve my pumpkin very well and without injury. Thanks a lot Matthew.

And Chad, I would like you to know that Hannah carved her entire pumpkin by herself and did not even threaten to lose interest. She got really into it and hers turned out really cute. I know, we were impressed too. (Hannah isn't huge into crafting. She'll think she is sometimes, start something, get bored after 10 minutes and leave it.)

Anyways, here are the fruits of our labor...

Hannah's says BOO! on one side, and has hands on the other:

Matthew's Hitler pumpkin, and my sinister one:

This picture was kind of an accident because the flash came on halfway through taking the picture, but I think it looks really cool:

When we finished those, Jessica, Angela and Heather came over to bring him their gifts. 

Happy birthday to you...happy birthday to you...yada yada yada. Make a wish and don't tell anyone:

Heather and Angela made him Dwight sweat pants and shirt with Angela's mom, Kim's vinyl machine. They are so funny and he loves them:

Jessica got him a Spiderman mask she got on her Mexican cruise (rough life) and a really cool cancer ribbon dog tag she made in her metals class:

I got him some more weapons for his very large armory he also likes to call his bedroom:

We ended our night by watching a recording dad took of Matthew when he was completely delirious from morphine in the hospital. Now that his pain and delirium is gone and his tumor is shrinking, that video is more hilarious than it was when my dad first recorded it. Perhaps I will post it to the blog, but I guess you'll just have to wait and see...

Round 3

Monday, October 22

Round 3 of chemo! He's not thrilled about it because his chemo weeks are very boring, but it's just another session of chemo done and one step closer to the end.  The nurses said that the normal counts for platelets are between 140,000-450,000, and Matthew's were at 261,000.

Shrinkage

Today was the CT scan!!! We were all very excited and nervous to find out the results of his test. We were all expecting to see it shrink significantly, so our hopes were very high. He went in around noon, and luckily our hopes weren't dashed. The tumor had shrunk a ton. They aren't going to take it out early, but all of the prayers (and therapy) is definitely working! I can't even express how incredibly joyful I was to see the original picture of his tumor side by side with the picture they took today, and to see the difference.  Amazingly, his blood cell counts still have not gone down from his chemo, so he can pretty much go out and do whatever he wants. He still can't hang out with anyone who is sick, and my mom sends disinfectant wipes with him to places like movie theaters. Life is great over here. There are no complaints.

Look at the difference!!!

This first picture is the better of the two. The two white circles that look like eyes are the  heart valves, and the tumor is everything above that. It looks like has shrunk by about 30%!

 This second one shows how much calcium is in the tumor.

Before the scan, the doctors put a dye for the test in his through his port:

Matthew was only inside the machine for like 15 minutes tops. I was expecting it to take longer than that, but T was glad it didn't.

We're Vaccinated!

Matthew was very pleased to see that he's not the only one getting poked anymore.

I'm Back....

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the lag in updates...I know you missed me...but it's not every day that something blog worthy happens, and this week I had midterms. I'm sure you all are very concerned about how I did, but don't worry because I'm sure I got high grades. They were a piece of cake! But anyways, back to Matthew because that is who the world revolves around lately...

On Monday Matthew and Cameron went hat shopping, and Cameron bought Matthew a hat and Dairy Queen. They had a lot of fun at the mall and came home and played video games; something he does a lot of these days.

Later that day a guy named Armando came over to the house to talk to Matthew about his own battle with cancer that he just overcame. His story was special because he had the exact same cancer that T has. It was in the same place above his heart, but his treatment was slightly different because his tumor wasn't as advanced as T's. He was really chill and it was nice to hear a germ cell tumor success story.

On Wednesday T went to the doctor to see how the chemo is working, and his counts were at 4020. Even with the chemo that is supposed to bring his counts down to zero, his counts continue to go up. He has not gotten sick at all from chemo either. Sometimes he'll feel a little bit nauseous, but that goes away with a pill. He has been taking three pills a day to prevent bone pain, but then last Friday they took him down to two because he had absolutely no pain, and on Wednesday they took him down to one because there is still no pain. He's thrilled about that, not because he's painless, but because we all know how much he loves his pills...

The doctors also said that his alpha beta protein test (which is the protein that created the tumor) came back and its counts were in the 300s. In the hospital they were in the 2000s. We're not really sure what exactly that means yet though, if the tumor is shrinking or what, but he goes in on Tuesday or Wednesday for a CAT scan that will tell us more.

We really believe that everyone's prayers are working and that he will get through this, so please keep praying. Thank you!

Workin' at the Car Wash

This morning a family that we have been friends with for probably 12 years now put on a car wash to fundraise for Matthew's cause. The Pineda family recruited some of Anesa's (their oldest daughter) softball team and her coach to help along with family and friends. We went down after Matthew's nurses left, and it was really cool to see. There were a bunch of helpers and they always had good stream of cars. Everyone was so nice and happy to help even though most of them didn't know Matthew or our family. We are so grateful to them for giving up their Saturday morning and afternoon to help our family.

We could only stay at the car wash for about 20 minutes because Matthew started getting really weak and tired, and when we got home he fell right to sleep on the couch. It's sad to me that he used to have so much stamina and now it's all gone. Even just a small amount of activity wears him out. I know he will only be like this for a short time, but it's still hard to watch. It's still so surreal that my little brother has cancer, but I know it would be unbearable without the people we have in our life.

Their sign says Fundraiser Car Wash For Matthew's Journey:

When we got there they put me and Hannah right to work, but we were glad to help!

Hair Roller

This morning two nurses came over to our house to unhook T from his backpack and IV. His last day of chemo was yesterday, and he is so happy to be done. He had to get his Neulasta shot today though. He says that shot feels like they are putting acid into his veins. It burns really bad, but it is important because it builds the white blood cells that the chemo kills back up. This shot causes bone pain and body soreness though because it is pushing its way very aggressively into his marrow. The nurse told us today that one Neulasta shot costs between $3,000-5,000. He has to get that shot after each chemo therapy. Luckily our insurance covers it though. Still no sickness from chemo and he still has an enormous appetite.

I thought that Matthew was done coming up with new and unconventional ways of hair removal, but I was wrong. After the nurses left he went and found a lint roller and started rolling his chest hair off. It was so funny. I wonder what he will come up with next...

Chemo: Round 2, Day 4

Still no nausea! He is taking chemo like a champ. His platelet count is now at 170,000, and the doctors are pleasantly shocked. His days are even more boring now than they were at home, but they don't even compare to the days in the hospital. He is a home based patient now, so he sits in the clinic from like 9-5 every day waiting for his chemo bags to drip into his port. He has it made there though. He sits and watches movies and plays Xbox all day, and he gets a king sized candy bar every time he goes in.

Something I completely forgot to mention a few days ago is that the doctors came back with some results from T's marrow samples. I guess they had to send his marrow to Utah to be tested because his cancer is so rare, and when the tests came back they didn't have the best news. His tumor is now trying to attack his muscles as well, so instead of only having two chemo sessions after his surgery, he will need to have six. So now he cannot go back to public school for the rest of the year. I think that news hit him really hard because he loves school and he loves his friends and his sport. The doctors said that they want him to still be a teenager, so he can go to his friends' houses if no one there is sick, and out to the movies if he wears his mask. He can't play or do active things, but he can go to volleyball practice and games to watch and be a part of the team in that way. He has started online school through Global Academy, but he doesn't like it because there is a ton of reading. I told him that if he can make it through this online school, college will be a breeze. I take an online class every semester at ASU because I need the credits and don't have time with my work schedule to physically go to another class and I hate them, so I definitely feel his pain. I think it will benefit him though because he will be such a faster reader and the college work load will be familiar to him.

One thing about this experience that is funny to me is what T complains about. He never once complained about the pain or the surgeries, but just sat there and took it quietly. Now that he's home though, he complains about everything! It is like pulling teeth trying to get him to take his medicine. He complains about the size of the pills, the taste of his drinks, the waiting period to eat after mouthwash, and the constant and monotonous noise that comes from his backpack. You would think that he would be more vocally upset about the intense pain in his body or the multiple surgeries, but no...he gripes about the pills that take two seconds to swallow. He is backwards, but that is what is amusing.

T in the Clinic:

Life at home for the weirdos:

Chemo: Round 2, Day 1

Matthew sat in the clinic today from 8AM-5:30PM. He got a lot of hydration and three bags of chemo. Everything went smoothly and he is not nauseous yet, so that's good. He is now hooked up to his backpack of fluids playing video games with Nick Rockwell and he's doing great. Other than that today has been a pretty boring day, which is good. When it comes to T's cancer, boring is great!

Fluids: