Not Again

I wish I was writing this blog post to inform you all that the awful vomiting had continued to stay far away from our son.  Unfortunately, I am instead writing to inform you that the vomiting came back worse than it had been previously.  The odd thing about this whole process is that he had an amazing week when he was receiving the chemotherapy, but when we arrived home it got much worse.  He was vomiting so much that we often lost count after 25-30 times in a day.  After many calls to Doernbecher and his condition worsening, we opted to trek back to Portland to try to get some help with the nausea.  The most worrisome part of it all was that Ari was beginning to expel large amounts of blood.  With his platelets low due to the chemotherapy, they were concerned that he would not be able to clot any tear within his stomach or esophagus.  Luckily, the blood went away within the next 24 hours after some pain medication and a platelet transfusion.

Currently, we are still in Portland at Doernbecher hoping to, once again, try to get a handle on this nausea and vomiting.  Ari is neutropenic, but his counts are recovering well.  He is pretty uncomfortable at this point due to the constant vomiting for 4 days prior to coming up to Portland.  His voice is raspy, and he grimaces in pain when he coughs.  The doctors have agreed that it would be beneficial to stay through the weekend to manage his pain with IV medications and trial the use of a relatively new anti-nausea medication.  We used this medication for 3 days at the beginning of this round of chemo, and it seemed to have a positive effect.  Normally, this medication is indicated for the first few days of chemotherapy administration then discontinued.  Well, Ari is not the "normal" case.  Our doctors have suggested we try to give him the medication daily to see if it helps with the vomiting.  Luckily, there are very few side effects with this drug; however, it is somewhat uncharted territory using the medication for longer than 3-5 days.  There are only a few case studies that have used the drug on more of a long-term basis.  Honestly, we are a bit nervous about this, but our doctors seem to feel comfortable with the use and have reassured us that we can stop it at any time.

We will hopefully get to head home sometime early next week.  We are really hoping our little guy has a good week after his counts recover and the doctors develop a good plan for his nausea.  As much as we don't particularly like to be in the hospital, we more do not like Ari to be vomiting or in pain.  Please pray for the nausea to be held in control and for some relief for Ari's body.  We are so grateful for all that read and share our story.  We continue to not know how to fully express how grateful we are for all of your thoughts, concern, and prayers throughout this crazy journey.

Ari's not feeling great but hanging in there!