After fasting for 22.5 hours for the Ct scan and enduring a frustrating and tear filled day... Round 5 of my chemotherapy has finally started.
Only 96 hours to go...
I didn't want to eat my dinner last night. That was a bit silly because I had to fast again after 5am. I was booked in for a CT scan this morning. After fasting for 22.5 hours for the Ct scan and enduring a frustrating and tear filled day... Round 5 of my chemotherapy has finally started. Only 96 hours to go... Today was my last day of fresh air for a while.... I'm back in the hospital for Ct scan and round 5 of chemotherapy tomorrow. I'm back to the 96 hour continual chemo. The chemo free weeks have been great and my hair came back... But, we can start to see the end of the cancer chapter now! Taken from the Kiama Independent - 7/11/12
LITTLE Kiama battler Dexter Heffernan is home and recovering strongly after a five-and-a-half hour operation on October 16 to remove a cancerous liver tumour. The Kiama community rallied around the Heffernan family in June, raising more than $40,000 so that parents Andrew and Lenice Heffernan could be by the 18-month-old's side at Randwick Children's Hospital. Mrs Heffernan said the surgery went as planned but Dexter's recovery had been slightly less smooth. "Because it's Dexter, we knew the recovery would be a bit different [from what medical staff expected]," Mrs Heffernan said with good humour in relation to a series of health issues her son has had from birth. Dexter's reaction to certain drugs meant he stopped breathing and had to be re-intubated (breathing through a tube) for a couple of days. After six days in intensive care, Dexter was allowed home. He has some pain when he stands and sits but, aside from that, he is recovering well. "He's doing much better now," Mrs Heffernan said. "He goes to give us a smile and then remembers he's cranky with us and stops smiling." On November 8 Dexter will have a CT scan after which its expected he will start his fifth round of chemotherapy, which will be his second last. "We are hoping it will all be over and done by Christmas and well and truly by the time the new baby arrives in January," she said. "We are hoping for a hospital-free Christmas." Mrs Heffernan's pregnancy with Dexter's sibling is on track, although she is being closely monitored because the causes for complications with Dexter while in utero are unknown. Dexter's diagnosis came on top of a tough start which began when it was discovered he had a single umbilical artery. As a result of Dexter's premature arrival (nine weeks before term), he had received only half a dose of the required glucocorticosteroids (steroid hormones) and his lungs were not prepared. During his first year he fought pneumonia, anaemia and jaundice and endured ultrasounds, echo-cardiograms, X-rays, barium swallows, enemas, electroencephalograms, milk scans, blood work and endless tests. When Dexter was four weeks old, his parents were told he had periventricular leukomalacia (a form of brain damage also known as PVL). Dexter also has cerebral palsy and is visually impaired. Mrs Heffernan said the money raised at the Kiama Golf Club was put to good use and that she and her husband appreciated the well wishes of people who had since become aware of Dexter's trials. "It has been really good for both of us to be around for Dexter when he needed us and it has taken off a lot of the strain when bills arrived and things like that," she said. Thanks Kiama Independent! Checkout the webpage. Thanks Kerrielyn and Dylan! This is mum and I at last year's Melbourne cup. We were both so little! We forgot to get a photo this year, but I loved catching up with my friends. I haven't seen them for so long! This will show the dietitian! She told mum and dad that I was underweight and they need to be doing things differently! She hadn't even read my files or background! Look! After a month off chemo, my eyelashes are growing back! But I'm going back for another round of chemotherapy on Thursday, so they won't last much longer... I've got way too much energy to go to sleep! It might have something to do with me just wanting to sleep all day, but now I'm wide awake! I had such a fun day with Aunty Terese and Noody today! I liked it even more that I did a massive milk and weetbix vomit all over mum just before she was about to put me in the car, so she had to get changed before she could go to work! |
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