Another Day @ Cooks

Payton had a better day today. His fever is slowly getting better. Nothing has shown up on the blood cultures yet, which is good news. I wanted to post this video and will post more tomorrow. I need to get Savannah home and to bed, since she has school tomorrow.

Back to the Hospital!

Payton started running a fever last night and you know what that means, back to the hospital. They had us go to the ER since his fever was so high. By the time we got to the ER his temp was 105.6. We were admitted a couple of hours later. I had Payton into the clinic yesterday and his counts were starting to get low, but not low enough to transfuse. In 24 hrs they took a big drop, so he will need both platelets and red blood cells. You can tell Payton is not feeling very well today. He has just been lying down or wanting to be held. You know that he is sick when he received his GCSF shot and didn’t even budge. They are running some blood cultures, so hopefully nothing will show up. Payton has been started on IV antibiotics. We will be in the hospital until he shows signs that his counts are recovering and is fever free for 48 hrs. This could take days or even weeks. Savannah came up to the hospital to visit Payton after school. I know that she is tired of being here, but she is a trooper. We will keep you posted to how he is doing.

Happy Thanksgiving from Cooks!

Payton enjoyed his Thanksgiving lunch from the cafeteria @ Cooks in the window seal while he pretended to talk to his "papa" on the phone. We want to wish all of our friends and family a Happy Thanksgiving! We love you all!

Day 3 @ Cooks

Last night Payton tripped and pulled the needle out of his port. We had to wait for the swelling to go down in his port area to be re-accessed and to get chemo. Besides that, it has been a good day. Payton went in for his hearing test which came back normal and also his CT Scan which came up clean. We are so thrilled and even though we are here for Thanksgiving, we have so much to be thankful for. When we went into the room to do Payton's CT Scan he got so scared and screamed. I felt really bad for him, I'm sure sometimes he wonders what's next.

Payton has been watching Savannah sing to High School Musical a lot lately and thought he would try his hand at it.

Back at the hospital for chemo

Payton's counts were finally where they needed to be to start chemo. We started another 5 day round on Monday and will be here through Friday. Kind of stinks that we will be here over Thanksgiving, but we are anxious to keep going. Payton's kidney was not functioning as well as it has been, so they reduced his chemo drug carboplatinum a little for just this round. Payton is going in for a routine CT scan on Wednesday and doing a hearing test as well. Should be lots of fun!

Some more time at home

We went into the hospital today to be admitted for our 5 day chemo round and Payton’s platelet counts still were not high enough. We are really frustrated since this will put us 2 weeks behind schedule. It looks like every time he gets a 5 day round it will put us behind. Given that it looks as though we will be first part of March finishing up instead of January. We are to go back on Monday to see if his counts are high enough to start then. It will put us in the hospital over Thanksgiving, but we need to do what is necessary to finish.

Payton had to be poked a lot today, so I know that he was ready to come home. We did accomplish Payton’s GFR which tells us how his one kidney is functioning; we should get the results on Monday. We are anxious to finish and have great faith that Payton will get through this and be cancer free. Payton was thrilled to tell us that he got his noodle out.

A fun day at the Park

Payton enjoyed a fun day at the Park with his cousin Ella. We picked a day when his counts were high and when it wasn't busy to get some fresh air. He loves being outside. He enjoyed his sonic corndog and drink.

Ella loves me



I love going for a ride in my red wagon.

Look at me, I'm getting so big! And even with no hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, my mom thinks I'm still pretty handsome.

I am a typical 2 year old that loves to get dirty.

I look at these pictures and so much has happened to our little Payton the last 5 1/2 months. Our little Payton has endured so much. He is an angel to me and he is the one that gives me strength to get through this. I can't wait to get through this my little one so that you can go on doing all the things that you love to do. Payton you have such a special place in our hearts and always will. Love you, Mom.

Finally some time at home.

It’s been so long since we last updated this blog so I figured it was about time. Payton has completed two more big rounds of chemo; he was admitted to the hospital after each round. Dr. Bowman decided that we needed to increase Payton’s dosage of chemo back to what it originally was. He said that if this does ever relapse that it is a "bear to treat", so we need to beat it the first time. I have had some mixed feelings, but I know what we need to do. Both times Payton was admitted in the hospital for neutropenia and fever; the first time he was there for 5 days and the second for 11 days. Payton has had several transfusions during the latest round of chemo, especially platelets. It seems like the carboplatinum is hitting his bone marrow pretty hard. He needed platelets every other day. Payton was kept in isolation on the 11 day round since he showed up positive for a carrier of VRE. He will now be kept inisolation for the remainder of his stay at Cooks. It really stinks since we know that he picked it up from the hospital.

Payton is due to start another 5 day round of admission chemo on Thursday. He is also due for a GFR to find out how his kidney is functioning and a CT scan on Friday.

Payton has enjoyed having a few days at home since it seems like we are in the hospital more than we are home. He loves spending time outside, jumping on the trampoline, watching teletubbies, a drive to Sonic for a corndog and drink, and spending time with his family.

Payton is so brave I can’t even think of words to describe him. He has grown and changed so much since all this happened. He has learned to communicate and we are amazed at how his vocabulary has grown. He is so smart and has learned to sense what is going to happen next. When they are drawing Payton’s blood he sits up so big and tells the nurses I want to help and he will say "here it comes" referring to his blood. Payton will tell the doctors and nurses "no more owies today". After we leave the hospital he will tell Chad and I “I did it”. We love him and are so proud of him