November 18 - Transplant Day
Hudson is doing well so far this admission! Matt and I swapped today, and it was so so good to see my boys and give Hudson lots of snuggles! Hudson did great over the weekend. Matt said he handled the thiotepa baths fairly well (I wasn’t too sad to miss those this round 😅). He’s definitely been battling some nausea and has had a few bouts of vomiting, but as soon as I arrived his doctors and nurses were commenting on how active (and cute!) he’s been, walking and playing in the hallway over the weekend. Chemo can’t hold him down! 💪🏻
At the end of Hudson’s last transplant round, we had several discussions about nutrition, and we ultimately decided to plan to do an NG tube for this round. We want to try to keep him from losing so much weight and muscle mass, as he was definitely quite weak compared to his baseline by the end of his last round. His NG tube was placed earlier today, and they started his feed about two hours ago. They are starting very small and slow to see how he tolerates it. Hopefully this will keep him stronger, and honestly, it feels like a bit of relief. We won’t have to stress so much about getting him to eat because we know he’ll be getting what he needs through the tube.
Hudson’s stem cell transplant was also today - busy day! He handled it like a champ again, and the creamed corn smell started before they even finished pushing the cells in! 😆 So now we are in the waiting phase again - waiting for counts to bottom out and then come back up! Hopefully his body will have a great recovery like last time. 🙏🏻
The girls and I had a great weekend together! Brunch, a special shopping trip with their own Target gift cards (thanks to Friends of Kids with Cancer), cousin time at grandma and grandpa’s house, girls’ weekend at the hotel (no pics 🤦🏼♀️), and a birthday party at the park - doesn’t get much better. I’m so grateful for the time we had at home together. 🥰
Just going to take this opportunity to shout out Friends of Kids with Cancer. This foundation has been so incredibly generous, it’s amazing. They’ve supplied decorations for Hudson’s hospital room, given gift cards to the girls and Hudson, provided all sorts of new toys and new pajamas for his transplant rounds, surprised us in clinic with even more new toys and goodies, and allowed us to fill out a “wish list” to help with Christmas shopping. If you’re looking for a place to direct any year-end giving, maybe you could consider a donation to Friends of Kids in Hudson’s honor. All funds stay in the St. Louis community.🎗️
Thank you all for your prayers for our sweet little guy! Your prayers and support continue to give us strength and hold us up during this time. We are so grateful for our village.
Jesus, we trust in you! 💛
