Saturday and Sunday, August 25th and 26th

Hoping you all are having a great weekend. School is literally just around the corner, so we are trying to gear up the girls for Tuesday. This also means home bound tutoring will start soon for Otto. In either case, school will be in session and that portion of "normal" life will return.

Otto has been feeling ok this weekend. We are determining that any red juices (Powerade, Gatorade) are not agreeing with his stomach. We are trying to stick more so with water. Other things that are starting to pop up are finding other foods he might enjoy. Unfortunately, his "staples" are tasting a little bland to him these days. We really attribute this to the chemo.

His eyes and itchiness are better this weekend, which makes us think that the effects of chemo are wearing off some. We are hoping the nausea will go away, too.

Other than that, spirits are high. We are trying our best to do things together as a family, but at the same time keep the germs away. Otto's immune system is heading downward and his ANC level will eventually be zeroed out once again. Our next appointment is this coming Tuesday. Til then, we hang (hopefully without any issues).

Thanks so much for all the love and prayers!

Mark, Leigh, Otto, Tess and Lulu

Comments

Friday, June 22nd

Good morning! Otto wants you all to know that he's doing well. He had another great night, and we are over the moon happy that he has been fever free for 18 hours. Mark went to rounds this morning with the team, and Otto's counts continue to look really good. His white blood cells are continuing to dwindle (which is what we want) and his body is preparing itself for the ultimate fight. So, that's pretty amazing news for us, considering what was dropped on our laps Friday afternoon. I know that it is most likely that people are wondering if we are in good hands. I will tell you that we are. The doctors are on top of everything - from what is currently going on to what could happen - and have a plan to counter it all. We are incredibly lucky to be surrounded by individuals whose life's passion is researching and helping kids with AML to beat it and succeed. With that being said, we see these individuals from time to time throu...

Wednesday, June 20th

Hi everyone, Hoping this message finds you all well. We are ever so grateful for the continuous messages of prayer, positivity and love. Otto is a very lucky boy to have all of you in his world. So, we got back the results of his spinal tap and we are incredibly happy. There are no leukemia cells that appear to be in the spine. What does this mean? Three less bags of chemo to have to take during the 10 day period!!! Yesterday was Day 2 of chemo. He had one dose in the morning followed by two doses in the early evening. For the most part, his body handled them ok. He's still getting fevers here and there, but thankfully Tylenol kicks in to make things better. Today is Day 3. We are looking at 4 doses throughout the day. One thing I am noticing is that chemo makes you tired and sleepy. All that is telling us is that his body is taking it's time healing itself. And we are just ...

Thursday, July 19th

Today is one of the happiest days we will always remember! Our oncologist called to tell us that Otto has no leukemic cells left - zero - nada - not one found! This was confirmed through two types of testing. As of now, Otto is in remission! What we also learned is that he will most likely not need a bone marrow transplant, which is such awesome news!!! Otto, along with our family, is over the moon happy with this recent news. So, what does this mean? This means he will continue on the chemotherapy protocol, which is a total of five chemotherapy cycles. Each cycle is approximately 28 days with varying amounts of chemo each time based on his condition. We are still cautiously optimistic as our journey continues toward his full recovery. We head back to the hospital tomorrow for the start of cycle two, with 8 days of chemo. Our family wants to thank each and every one of you who have taken time to pray and send positive vibes. It i...

Thirty Days and Waiting

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