Tuesday October 27th Hunter experienced a minor seizure. Erin drove him to the emergency room where they immediately stopped his medication pump and completed imaging and tests to see if there was any lasting damage or any other concern. The CT scan of his brain was clear and he passed all other neurological checks. We were admitted to the hospital for 24 hours on no medication then they reduced the dose to 1/3 of the previous dose, and observed for another 24 hours. Hunter was released Thursday October 29th, just in time to enjoy Halloween with his big brother Jackson and his Aunt Leta and Uncle Shane.

Hunter spent the last week at 1/3 of the normal dose and yesterday was admitted to return his dose to normal and observe for 24 hours. Apart from the seizure, his energy has been amazing, his numbers keep climbing (praise God!) and his appetite is back with no added help of an appetite stimulant. He has one more week of this phase and we are both happy that he has been more himself and sad that we know what is in store, more chemotherapy.

The next phase of treatment will be very trying, we expect it to come with some harsh side effects that are nearly unavoidable for every patient on certain chemo medications.
But! We will never lose hope and most importantly, we will never forget to be thankful for what we have experienced so far. Life is fleeting and though ours often feels fractured, where life before cancer meets everything after Hunter’s diagnosis, we love and laugh even harder than before.

Thank you to all of you for sticking with us, for supporting us in every way possible and for keeping the faith when we struggle to do so ourselves.

Good evening!

Hunter was released from the hospital last Thursday, October 8th with a CT scan that showed significant improvement in his appendix as well as his liver and pancreas. He was prescribed a week long oral antibiotic and was scheduled to return to clinic on Monday where his numbers also showed significant improvement. Hunter’s narrow was producing more white blood cells and neutrophils than what was being used up to fight his infection and as of this morning, his ANC was over 900! He is no longer neutropenic and his hemoglobin and platelets have stabilized in a good range.

We were readmitted to the hospital today for a planned two day stay while Hunter starts a new medication and immunotherapy treatment for his cancer. We’ve been hoping to reach this phase for quite some time, although some of the side effects of this medication are very scary and can be severe, we are hopeful Hunter won’t experience any of the worst case scenarios. The nurses and doctors will observe and monitor him for 48 hours before sending us home with a continuous pump via picc line for 28 days.

Today we had some fun though! Spirit Halloween puts on a party every year for the children at the hospital and Hunter got to choose a Halloween costume. He chose to be a ninja and let me tell you, there couldn’t have been a more perfect costume for him.

Please pray that Hunter is able to tolerate being hooked up to his pump 24/7 and that he is spared from the worst of the side effects. We pray that it is God’s will to see him through this phase peacefully and provide us with respite from the illness, infection and low counts Hunter has had to endure for the past few months. We are deeply grateful for your support and Hunter loves hearing about all the people who are rooting for him near and far.

Hello everyone! I’d like to start this post off by giving thanks. We owe so much to the medical community here in Temple Texas, the hematology and oncology team we’ve been blessed with has proven time and time again that they are here to take care of our baby and we are utterly grateful for their knowledge, bravery, steadfastness, time and attention. And to Erin’s parents, Sherry and Scott, you truly are angels in this life; dropping everything to drive 11 hours to central Texas at a moments notice and without having to be asked, to fill the gaps as they appear in our lives, we will NEVER be able to thank you enough.

Hunter was out of the hospital for two days and completed his final chemotherapy treatment in phase two on Thursday 9/24 before returning to the hospital with yet another fever on Friday 9/25. This time we have answers to some things and no answers for others. He was experiencing febrile neutropenia, which is where his body lacks any neutrophils (a specific type of white blood cell, immune cell) that play an important role as the body’s first line of defense and protect against bacterial infections, accompanied by a high fever. This makes him at high risk for infection and his body lacks what it needs to fight and heal from just about anything that could make him sick.

His heart rate was very high and his blood pressure very low, they moved Hunter pretty quickly from his regular room to a room in the PICU. He was there for four days and things were a little touch and go. He tested positive for an upper respiratory virus but the doctor’s believed that was not what caused the symptoms of a bacterial infection that he was experiencing. He has liver and pancreas inflammation which can be a result of the chemotherapy he was receiving and we were fortunate a repeat CT scan for abdominal pain, which we thought was related to the aforementioned inflammation, revealed early stages of appendicitis.

This news is devastating, it presents a whole different set of challenges with Hunter having cancer and receiving chemotherapy versus any other child or adult who has the option to just have their appendix removed. The risk of surgery is too great right now so the only course of action is strong antibiotics and hoping the infection clears his appendix and his numbers recover (mostly his ANC, neutrophils.) The surgeon is still undecided as to whether or not removal once numbers recover is a good option, in order to avoid a repeat infection.

For now our prayer is that the antibiotics do their job and he can fully recover form the last week and a half of illness and infection so we can move forward with the immunotherapy phase of his treatment. This is the phase we’ve been hoping to reach because it will give him a break from chemotherapy and his numbers are expected to recover the most during this time. We’re also praying that illness stays away from the rest of us so we can continue to physically be there to support Hunter in every way possible. We’re also praying that through all of this our boys feel God’s presence and that Hunter can find peace even in the suffering he’s experienced in many forms while being stuck in the hospital.

Thank you everyone for taking the time out of your day to send messages of healing and hope and for taking the time to pray for our sweet boy.