Round 4

I have had a few people this week ask me if Layne has made a decision about chemo. I forgot I left it that he still hadn't made a decision. Well he did. He decided to go ahead with IV chemo and he actually started his 4th round yesterday. In the mean time. He has received his iron via IV. His hemoglobin levels are slowly creeping back up. Normal I believe is 130-150. He was at 112 as of Monday. A lot better than 89. Layne's steristrips have finally all fallen off his incision. He discovered a few days ago they forgot to remove one of his staples. One of the strips that they put on was hiding it. You could see Layne was starting to freak out a little but because it has been in there for 4 weeks. He called the floor we were on and they said we needed to have our DR remove it but it was a saturday so we couldn't do that. My dad quickly volunteered to remove it. He loves doing things like that. So we got some not-so-sterile pliers and he removed it. It came out nice and easy. It was nice to avoid another trip to the hospital.

Getting his IV iron

Dad removing his staple. Can you tell Layne has all the confidence in the world for my dad. 

He got it out!

Layne's brother was able to bring his family home over the weekend. He took a few days off from school. It was nice to have them here, to have a little fun while Layne was feeling well. I can understand why they don't want you to take too long of a break to start chemo again. He didn't want to start because he just wanted to feel good for a bit longer. I know studies also say that its the most effective the quicker you start it but I can also see you never wanting to go back and do it if you wait too long. We were able to go out for dinner with all of Layne's family for a pre-chemo party again. They even gave him a free dessert. Layne and I went to my brothers basketball game afterwards. I had to persuade him to go. He has got pretty used to staying indoors I felt like he was forgetting about his fun/social self. Thankfully he came and had a blast. He decided while he was feeling good he would go out again. We went out to my brothers basketball game the next night too and went out for pizza afterwards.

Dinner at CoccoPazzo

2 Guys and A Pizza Place after Spencers b-ball game

Layne's brother was able to go with him to his chemo appointment yesterday. It's nice to have other people go and see what goes on. It's probably a little more entertaining than me going every time. They have made the changes to his treatment. He takes pantaloc (a drug that reduces acid secretions) on all the days he takes the steroid. After the pharmacists met, they decided it would be in Layne's best interest to stay on the dexamethasone, just at a lower dose. Hopefully the lower dose along with the pantaloc will help things. He didn't get that bolus I was talking about. It makes the appointment a bit shorter. So far, so good. He goes back in tomorrow to get the bottle off and will get hydrated again. They have a standing order set up at the hospital closest to us incase he gets diarrhea again. Fingers crossed we won't need to use it but we are ready and can handle anything as long as he doesn't have to have surgery again.

Brotherly love!

Another highlight to Layne's week was Blake started learn to skate. He had one lesson and then I took him to public skate yesterday and he is already skating on his own. He can turn on his own and when he falls, he gets up on his own. Blake can get pretty frustrated really easily so we were nervous skating with just be a whole bunch of tantrums when he falls but it's just the opposite. He is wonderful, never complains and works hard. A few of Layne's family members have had a few very exciting things in the works for him. Both of them will happen over the next week and a half. I am going to leave you guys hanging and not say anything but let's say they have left Layne with something to look forward to and left a lot of people feeling very jealous. Let's hope his energy is back up and he is doing good for next wednesday. He will have a busy few days. Our next post should be very entertaining!

Ready to play hockey!