Journal entry by Danielle Clark —
We are on the other side of treatment cycle #3! I think this update is going to be a long one... if you're short on time, skip to the bottom and read the list of praises. 😉 Here we go!
Cycle 2 was much tougher on Ethan than the first one. The weekend after the second treatment, Ethan called me while I was at my parents house. He said his heart was racing and he felt like he couldn't breathe. He hung up and called 911. I called his brother Mason and asked him to meet me at the house, hoping he would be able to get there to Ethan quickly (He did and he's the best!).
The folks that responded to the call did an EKG and determined that Ethan was okay, but given the circumstance it wouldn't hurt to get completely checked out at the hospital. We spent about 5 hours in the ER, but received great care. Ethan was somewhat dehydrated so he got fluids and potassium.
4 days after the trip to the ER, the day before Cycle 3 was supposed to start, we noticed one of Ethan's port incisions looked infected. We called Ethan's oncologist and he told us over the phone that depending on how bad it was, the port may have to come out and that this would be detrimental to Ethan's treatment. The oncologist called in an antibiotic and we spent 2 hours driving around Asheboro trying to figure out which pharmacies were still open... (CVS on Dixie Drive filled it for us with 5 minutes to spare before closing! 😀) He also called Ethan's surgeon and had him on standby for the next day, in case it needed to come out.
We went to the cancer center the next day and the nurses opted to do labs through a regular IV instead of his port. After waiting what felt like forever, E's oncologist came in to look at the infected area. Thankfully, he deemed that it was something we could manage with an antibiotic and the port would not be effected! They cleared him to do the 3rd treatment, but after the stress of the day Ethan asked to postpone it. The good news here: the oncologist felt comfortable enough with some of the test results to agree to postpone!
During this appointment, we also talked through Ethan's trip to the ER. His heart rate was very high and the oncologist decided to get a consultation with a cardiologist scheduled that same day. They gave E more fluids and then sent us over to the cardiologist. The cardiologist did another EKG and talked through Ethan's history with us. Ethan was sent home with a heart monitor to wear for 2 weeks.
Since E did not receive treatment that day, we were able to attend the benefit dinner for Your Choices, where I work. Ethan and I met Alan and Lisa Robertson (from Duck Dynasty), who are lovely, down-to-earth people. Lisa was especially encouraging to me. We got to spend some great time fellowshipping with friends there. That evening kicked off our "week off" of treatment. During that time, we got to spend some great time with Ethan's cousin, aunt and uncle who live out of town. The whole week was awesome - it was the most normal we've felt recently.
This past week, Ethan had an ultrasound to look at his heart. Everything looked good! He was able to finally get treatment number 3. Due to positive signs and good test results, this cycle was done with lower dosages of medication! The lower dosage has meant that Ethan has felt a lot more like himself and he's been able to eat pretty normally. He's actually gained a little more weight back!
I'm going to sum this all up with some of the ways God is clearly working:
Cycle 2 was much tougher on Ethan than the first one. The weekend after the second treatment, Ethan called me while I was at my parents house. He said his heart was racing and he felt like he couldn't breathe. He hung up and called 911. I called his brother Mason and asked him to meet me at the house, hoping he would be able to get there to Ethan quickly (He did and he's the best!).
The folks that responded to the call did an EKG and determined that Ethan was okay, but given the circumstance it wouldn't hurt to get completely checked out at the hospital. We spent about 5 hours in the ER, but received great care. Ethan was somewhat dehydrated so he got fluids and potassium.
4 days after the trip to the ER, the day before Cycle 3 was supposed to start, we noticed one of Ethan's port incisions looked infected. We called Ethan's oncologist and he told us over the phone that depending on how bad it was, the port may have to come out and that this would be detrimental to Ethan's treatment. The oncologist called in an antibiotic and we spent 2 hours driving around Asheboro trying to figure out which pharmacies were still open... (CVS on Dixie Drive filled it for us with 5 minutes to spare before closing! 😀) He also called Ethan's surgeon and had him on standby for the next day, in case it needed to come out.
We went to the cancer center the next day and the nurses opted to do labs through a regular IV instead of his port. After waiting what felt like forever, E's oncologist came in to look at the infected area. Thankfully, he deemed that it was something we could manage with an antibiotic and the port would not be effected! They cleared him to do the 3rd treatment, but after the stress of the day Ethan asked to postpone it. The good news here: the oncologist felt comfortable enough with some of the test results to agree to postpone!
During this appointment, we also talked through Ethan's trip to the ER. His heart rate was very high and the oncologist decided to get a consultation with a cardiologist scheduled that same day. They gave E more fluids and then sent us over to the cardiologist. The cardiologist did another EKG and talked through Ethan's history with us. Ethan was sent home with a heart monitor to wear for 2 weeks.
Since E did not receive treatment that day, we were able to attend the benefit dinner for Your Choices, where I work. Ethan and I met Alan and Lisa Robertson (from Duck Dynasty), who are lovely, down-to-earth people. Lisa was especially encouraging to me. We got to spend some great time fellowshipping with friends there. That evening kicked off our "week off" of treatment. During that time, we got to spend some great time with Ethan's cousin, aunt and uncle who live out of town. The whole week was awesome - it was the most normal we've felt recently.
This past week, Ethan had an ultrasound to look at his heart. Everything looked good! He was able to finally get treatment number 3. Due to positive signs and good test results, this cycle was done with lower dosages of medication! The lower dosage has meant that Ethan has felt a lot more like himself and he's been able to eat pretty normally. He's actually gained a little more weight back!
I'm going to sum this all up with some of the ways God is clearly working:
- Looking back at Ethan's infection, we can both see how God took something that looked really scary and used it for good. That small infection is what allowed us to have the amazing "off week" that we both needed.
- We asked, but had been told that there was no way that Ethan could get his blood count booster shot in Asheboro. (These shots take place every other week, normally on the day E is most exhausted. We spend a good amount of time driving to and from Raleigh for them.) We hadn't pushed for a different answer and had honestly kind of forgotten we'd even asked. During the 3rd treatment, Ethan's nurse came in and said that we had been approved to have the shots done at home! This might seem little to some, but to us it was a reminder that God is working things out that we aren't even capable of keeping track of.
- After only 2 treatments, Ethan's body began showing signs that the tumor in his colon is shrinking! Praise. The. Lord. 🙌
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