Skip to main content

Wednesday - Friday, November 21st - 23rd

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  We are hoping that you all were able to get some good, quality time with those whom you love. That, and have a delicious meal!  ;)  Otto was so happy to be out of the hospital, with most of our Connecticut family. We all gathered at Grandads house and had a delightful dinner along with some amazing desserts!  Our time together was lovely.

Today, we are switching gears. We are back at Yale and are all set in an inpatient room. We cannot get over all the love and support from our team of nurses and friends from a child Life  who decorated his room. It is so special!

Right now, we have a few things going on. Two were expected - radiation and chemo. However, while checking in, we we’re explaining to the docs that Otto has had a nasty cough over the last few days. X rays confirmed they believe it’s bronchitis. Poor kiddo even started with a fever once we checked in. Blood cultures were drawn just to confirm that it’s not bacterial, but that’s routine. So now Otto will be dealing with some antibiotics on top of the radiation, chemo, antifungals and other daily meds.

Otto has been pretty tired the last few days. This is more so due to not being able to sleep well at night. His cough keeps him up on an hourly basis. Although this is the case, he still finds time to occasionally joke around, crack a smile, etc. He’s such a trooper!

We continue to say thank you for all the love  and support you’ve given us. We feel the positive thoughts and prayers coming our way. And trust us, Otto and the girls do, too!

With so much gratitude and prayers for improvement,

Mark, Leigh, Otto, Tess and Lulu

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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...