Wednesday, June 6, 2007

A break from the hospital?

There is "talk" that Austin may be discharged from the hospital to the Ronald McDonald House tomorrow (however, we are not getting our hopes up like we did last round). He is doing very well, and is off all medications and antibiotics as of this morning. The doctors have discontinued Austin's TPN and lipids, so hopefully he will begin drinking and eating on his own instead of being fed intravenously. Home care is being arranged for Austin while he is out of the hospital, because he will require overnight IV hydration.
Over the last few days Austin has had a series of tests to see how damaging the chemotherapy has been to his kidneys, heart and hearing. I have not received any feedback on the results of these tests, except for the post-audiology test where I made detailed inquires into Austin's obvious hearing loss. The audiologist explained things to me, and basically, Austin has sustained significant hearing damage that is beginning to affect the "speech range" used for daily communication. Fortunately, options are available after his cancer treatment, such as hearing aids, to help him along the way. Austin also had a MRI two days ago, and the preliminary results show no new tumour growth in his brain. He has a lumbar puncture scheduled for tomorrow, as well. The LP will (hopefully) confirm the MRI results that indeed the cancer is not spreading throughout his central nervous system.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We'll keep our fingers crossed for a break from the hospital, it would be so nice for Austin to have a change of scenery. We think about you all the time! We'll talk soon.

Love Sue

Anonymous said...

Hope everything goes as hoped...I will be thinking of you two as always. It wil be a nice break. I will be emailing some pics of my new puppy. Yes another animal in the McRae household... yes I am up to 4 kids 2 cats 2 dogs and 1 Jason I think I am maxed out now!!!! Take care I will email the tommorow. Hope you enjoy them. Love Angie & the McRae family farm. XOXOXO

Anonymous said...

Hey Austin,
How is it going? Glad to see you are out of the hospital. Melissa is back in on 8A, we are here for 10-14 days. Got the fever ;(
Say hi to mom, gotta run. Good luck with round 3, you are half way done!!!Carolyn