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.