Coming Home on 12/22/06

Heath's Proton treatments were supposed to be done on Thursday, 12/14/06, but the machine was down for several days. Karis already had plane tickets to come home late Friday night. She talked to the doctors and they said that he needed all his treatments and skipping any of them could be very bad. Since she already had the tickets to come home and since we had several things planned on Saturday and since her husband missed them terribly and since the hospital was reimbursing them for the tickets back, they came home for the weekend.

Heath, Karis and Quinten flew back up on Monday and they will be back home for good on Friday, 12/22/06.

Heath's back is doing much better. It looked like he had 3rd degree burns in a 7 inch diameter circle where they are radiating him but it is healing very well from what Karis said. His blood counts are much better also. His platelets were still low today but they are going back up on their own so he didn't need any transfusions today.

We are very grateful for everyone's support in helping through this process and for the wonderful care Heath got at Mass General in Boston. Heath has 3 more months of chemo treatments back at Moffitt in Tampa. He should be cancer free at that point so keep praying for that outcome.

Heath's blood counts are very low

Heath was at the hospital all day getting transfusions. They gave him 3 units of blood and 6 units of platelets. They are also trying to give him an extra boast because he will be traveling home Friday on a commercial airline. He was feeling awful before the transfusion but Karis said he felt much better afterwards.

Karis told me this morning that Heath's Proton treatment for today has been cancelled because the machine is down. Luckily they had an extra day on their schedule before they are flying home so it shouldn't be a problem. As you can guess, Heath is very much ready to come home.

Overdue Update

Sorry, I've been very busy but that's no excuse. Here's a quick update on Heath.

Heath went into Mass General last Thursday to start another round of chemo. This is the second round of Ifos/Etop that he has had in Boston. It kept getting delayed because his platelet count was too low. The radiation that he is getting is an area where there is a lot of bone marrow which is causing his counts to stay down and not recover. He was done with the chemo last night but they were going to keep him in the hospital until his radiation treatment today at around 1:30PM.

Heath has about 10 more radiation treatments and then he is finished. He should be home on the 15th and I know he is very ready to come home. This is one big step towards his cure. He will need more chemo at Moffitt but I'm not sure of the details. Keep praying for Heath's healing and that he is healthy enough to fly home on the 15th.

Also, Heath's grandmother was admitted to Manatee Memorial. I don't think they completely know what's wrong but keep her in your prayers as well.