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Three Months Cancer Free


Three Months Cancer Free, www.bellybuttonpanda.co.uk


Cancer Free

On 5th August 2017 we hit a new milestone. Three months post-chemo and cancer-free. I can't believe the progress Ryan has made, it has astounded even me. The doctors are impressed and I'm impressed. His hair is growing back beautifully.

It just looks like a really short crew cut now. He has put on a wonderful amount of weight that puts him now absolutely on the typical average scale for his height and age. He also no longer has Adrenal Insufficiency either which surprised even the doctors that he recovered so quickly.
We now need to go and buy him new clothes because he's grown so well and improved so much and I’ll need to buy a new school uniform ready for September.

Ryan’s sleep patterns are still a mess though, to the point he is almost nocturnal and that's not for want of trying to form some sort of routine by waking him in the mornings and letting the dogs into his room, but he does seem to tire still quite easily and he did manage to pick up a cold a couple of weeks ago because he went to school for the last day of term.

Post Chemo

Ryan spent the final day in school with his friends because they were not doing any work particularly and it was just nice to him to touch base before going back in September. He seemed to enjoy the experience when he came home and he was quite good, considering.

He was less tired than I expected him to be, but as the night went on and in the early hours of the Friday morning he developed a stinking cold and quite a temperature so I rang his oncology nurse on Friday morning just to check things because I knew he was going to get ill at some point, I just did not expect him to get ill after just one day in school.

I just wanted to check the protocol now that he is post-chemo. I was unsure if it was just to treat as a normal cold with rest fluids and meds, which it was, but because he had such a high temperature the nurse did want the consultant to see Ryan at Clinic but Ryan steadfastly refused as he says he's had enough of hospitals to last him a lifetime and he did not want to go because every time we have been they have kept him in.

The nurse wasn't particularly happy with me but I did promise that I would monitor him closely and if I was at all concerned I would take him back. I am happy he has just a genuine cold and nothing more serious which unfortunately all 4 of us ended up getting, but although three of us have now recovered Ryan is still got it lingering on, so it shows his immune system is still quite weak.

Going Away

We've been asked several times if we're going away for the summer what our plans are and as I've tried to explain to everyone that asked our home is Ryan’s safe place.

He does not like going away anyway and as we've spent so much of the last year in the hospital in Cardiff away from home to have a staycation is more appealing to us than the additional stress of organising and going away somewhere different outside of his comfort zone.  Ryan would not cope with a change of scenery anyway because of his autism not to mention the three dogs.

We have been offered the use of a caravan by one of the Kids Cancer Charity but the unknown and upheaval that it would have meant for Ryan put him into distress so it was decided that it would be better not to go away at this stage, Instead to let him recuperate at home where he feels the most relaxed.

Three Months cancer Free. Ryan and Dogs bellybuttonpanda.co.uk
Ryan is happiest at home with our dogs. 


Comments

  1. Anon7 August 2017 at 13:01

    Solid (and amazing) progress. It was good to have an update as we hesitate to fuss you - but we did want to know how everything was going xxxxxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @SarahLou8 August 2017 at 08:13

      Hi, thanks for the comment. We have enjoyed some well earned R&R, but I will be doing periodic updates on progress. Our next challenge is going back to school part time in September. Sarah x

      Delete

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