Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Updates since we have been home 28th August


Thank you all for reading our blog so far.  We just wanted to give you a quick update on how Gavin is doing since our return from Switzerland.

As you can imagine we have been very busy since we came back to Ireland. One or 2 welcome home parties have been had :) Thanks Swanner and Jay for a super Welcome home party.


But most importantly our little hero Gavin is doing great. His hair has grown even more since we have been away. He has been very active - even since starting chemotherapy again. Our little Superman as below..


Gavin started back on his maintenance chemotherapy program on the 8th of August.  This involves an oral dosage of Cyclophosphamide, given at home, followed by a weekly trip into St. Johns Ward Crumlin Hospital Day Unit for IV Chemo (Vinorelbine).

Gavin also had 1 small operation on the 17th August which was a procedure to put back his testicle as  it had been moved out of harms way before we went to Switzerland. He recovered so well from this procedure and within a few days he was back running around again.
 
Gavin’s Bloods were low last week (22nd), his Neutrophil levels were 0.2 so that means he had to stop all chemo until his levels come back up.

Last Thursday 23rd we met with Dr O' Sullivan in Crumlin Hospital, she is responsible for the radiotherapy planning for all children.

She told us that Gavin will need 10 sessions of radiotherapy in St. Luke’s Hospital Rathgar. They plan to blast Gavin’s both lungs as there were spots located on 1 lung, detected back in November last year. Thankfully the intensive chemotherapy killed them off before Dec 2011 but as a preventive measure like the radiotherapy of Gavin’s Pelvic area the lungs must also be radiated.

This is planned for October but we do not have exact dates yet.

It will be the same scenario as in Switzerland, Gavin will need to fast every day and will have to be sedated...

 We also have our 1st scans booked since our trip to Switzerland. Our consultant has booked an MRI and also a CT scan for September 11th.