Thirty Days and Waiting

Today has been a great day.  Although it was raining outside, Otto was able to get out and enjoy the day.  We decided that due to his birthday being spent at Yale, that we would go on a little birthday shopping trip today.  Otto has been wanting to get some new golf attire.  We were able to find him some golf shoes, shorts and shirts.  He will definitely be ready for the course! We also had a wonderful phone call from our new friend from Make a Wish!  She, along with another friend from Yale, will be working together to help grant a wish for Otto.  Otto has a few ideas already, so we will need to wait and see if it's doable.  Thank you SO much to all of you out there who continue to pray for our guy.  Our family, friends and community are an amazing group of people.  Each day, Mark and I say how much our family is blessed!  Blessed to have been raised by our wonderful parents and extended family.  Blessed to have friends ...

Hi everyone,   Yesterday was a good day.  Otto was switched to a new antibiotic.  This one only needs to be administered once a day.  His body had no reaction to it and no fevers came with it.    Today, we were given the go ahead for being discharged.  We were all very excited to pack the car with our new meds in tow.  Our home health nurse will be coming to the house for the next few mornings to give Otto his IV antibiotic.  Then, we are scheduled to go to Yale on Friday to look at counts and discuss when Round 4 will happen.    Thanks so much to all of you for your prayers, love and help as we tried to work through this last week and half.  We are ever so thankful for family and friends! Mark, Leigh, Otto, Tess, and Lulu

It's been a wonderful weekend hearing about all the support that Otto has been receiving. Our friend Brendan O'Brien rode in the Closer to Free Ride here in New Haven. He rode one-hundred miles on Saturday. Whoa! That is impressive and he wore his Otto Strong shirt for the ride stopping by after the 8 hour ride to visit with Otto.    Our other friend Meg DeRidder hiked 26.2 miles in the Make-a-Wish Trailblaze Challenge at Bear Mountain in Tompkins Cove, NY. Another long and physically challenging show of support for Otto and a great cause. Make-A-Wish Traiblaze Challenge Thank you both for your wishes, thoughts, prayers and actions supporting Otto and others in their challenges. Leigh parents visited us this week also to celebrate Otto's birthday. Since they are 6 hours away in Rochester, it is always nice to have a chance to hang with them and especially to add more birthday cheer! Other good news is Otto's ANC levels are at 1,000 which is great! He has no fe...

Good afternoon! Today is procedure day.  Otto is currently in the OR with doctors as they are determining what is actually within his lungs.  We just got a call from the nurse stating that he went to sleep nicely and that they are all taking very good care of him. Over the night and through this morning, Otto continued to have a low grade fever.   We are really hoping that this procedure leads us to the source in which is causing his body to react this way. On a happier note, Otto's blood counts came back showing that he is holding on to his platelets and in addition, has an ANC of 300.  This is crazy!  It's only Day 21 and he has never shown a bounce back this early before.  After speaking to the docs, they think the reasoning behind this is that his body is trying to produce the ANC needed to fight the fever.  It is likely that when they check tomorrow, there may be a dip.  However, this is the glimmer of hope that we have been waitin...

Hello all. Otto has been doing ok these last two days.  He continues to be on antibiotics for the bacterial infection.  His fevers continue to come on occasionally, but now we are dealing with more low grade ones rather than high spikes.  Another good thing is that with all the blood cultures they continue to take, there continues to be no growth.  This means the antibiotics are doing their job. The big question is, why still all the fevers?  Otto had a CT Scan yesterday where we got more information.  Now it looks as though he has pneumonia.  We are still waiting to meet with the pulmonary team, but it looks like this is the case.  Hoping to get answers soon so this can be treated and done with. Please continue to say your prayers.  We are in need of each one.  We just want to get our boy through this rough patch. So grateful, Mark, Leigh, Otto, Tess and Lulu UPDATE: We met with the pulmonary team and they were inconclusi...

Otto's day has been up and down.  He continues to have moments of chills and fever.  New antibiotics were started yesterday, and it is the hope that it continues to treat the bacterial infection in his blood.  Just to ensure that there was no infection in the heart, Otto had another echocardiogram.  This turned out to show that his heart is perfectly normal.  That was a good sign.  Also, as a precaution, if Otto continues to have a fever into the night, he will be taken for CT scans sometime in the morning.  This is to check to make sure there is no fungal infections in his lungs.  Again, this is only to rule it out.  The doctors and physician assistant feel as though this is not the case, but need to rule it out anyway. Please keep those prayers coming.  We need all we can get. Hopeful and thankful, Mark, Leigh, Otto, Tess and Lulu

Happy Labor Day to everyone. What a nice invitation that the girls had received to go to the MRA with friends.  A big thank you to the Greenwood family for that.  The girls were so excited to join in the fun. Otto is definitely having a better day today.  Although he continues to have a fever, he's much more chipper and awake compared to the last few days.  After rounds this morning, it was discussed that they believe they know it is a strep infection from the normal bacteria that forms in the mouth.  That's the thing about being neutropenic.  Every day things can be more challenging and dangerous to the body.  Otto will continue on round the clock antibiotics.  The course of meds could change once the bacteria has completely grown out.  We will wait and see.  Otto's fevers have been trending down, so hopefully within the next few days he will be fever free.  Fingers crossed! Thanks so much for the love, prayers and support! ...