Results

Zach woke up last Friday morning with upper back pain but he attributed it to a long night of sitting at the TranSiberian Orchestra.  We tried massages and a heating pad for a couple of days but they offered only temporary relief and the pain worsened.  This was an eerily similar experience to the one in August when we learned his cancer had metastasized.  Both times the pain stuck up on him rather quickly, it was in his back, and we kept trying to "work out" the knots and pain with massage and heat; nothing had a lasting effect.  I spoke to our nurse on Sunday because I was so concerned.  We moved scans up to Monday (yesterday) and met with a nurse practitioner later in the afternoon for results.  

We learned yesterday that Zach has not responded to the treatments these past 6 weeks.  (There are not yet any definitive answers as to why he has such intense new pain--it could be a blood clot or pneumonia but likely the spread of the cancer.)  He is now on an antibiotic for pneumonia and further tests for a possible blood clot are being run.

Zach is having a hard time keeping anything down.  He went in to the hospital today for fluids and liquid morphine.  He also got a prescription for stronger medication to get him through the rest of the week until we meet with Dr. Dan on Friday.  My guess is that instead of treating Zach's cancer as we've done in the past, we will now make it a priority to treat his pain and offer as much comfort as possible.  

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving at Kris' house with family and incredibly thankful for all of you.  

These are a few of the sweet kids from the Eagle Middle School National Junior Honor Society who brought us an early Thanksgiving dinner last week.  What a special treat for my crew!  Max loves his cuddle time with Ellie (in pink) in the church nursery.