It has been a couple of weeks since our last update but we have been trying to pack as much in as possible while Travis is feeling good (relatively speaking). As we mentioned in the last update, Travis did so well through the last chemo round and we were able to go home early without IV fluids. Yeah!
Travis continues to work diligently on his school work both in and out of the hospital. His teacher, Mrs. Mills, has been phenomenal. She prepares weekly packets for him to work on, creates videos of the class talking to Travis and is readily available for any questions he has. She is constantly looking after him while he is in school and we feel like he is in excellent hands again this year.
Just to give you an idea of how our last couple of weeks have gone, here is a sort of play-by-play:
Friday, 9/6: We were back down at Rady Children’s Hospital to have lab work done and everything was ok so we were free for the weekend.
Saturday, 9/7: Our Faith & Works event this month was “Adopt a Trail” down at Mission Trails Park starting at 8am. It was a hot morning so we decided that it would be best is Travis and Lynne stayed home this time so that we don’t run into any problems. So, Tony and Tyler went down and helped our group clear some trails in the park. By 10am, the temperature was about 90 and we hiked back down the mountain and wrapped things up by 10:30am. Nothing like some good hard work to start the day and it is always great to join together to get things accomplished with our F&W family!
Saturday, 9/7-Sunday, 9/8: Now that our summer is over and the tournaments have wrapped up, we had our opening weekend of our regular season Soccer Games and Travis was able to attend. The team really likes it when Travis comes out and he also likes being around the guys so it is a win-win situation.
Monday, 9/9: We had lab work done and Travis’ counts were low so we need to lay low for the rest of the week.
Tuesday, 9/10: We went back down to Rady Children’s Hospital for a blood Transfusion since his Red Blood Cells were low. Since the Red Blood Cells carry oxygen throughout your body, when those counts get low, you can start experiencing symptoms similar to Altitude Sickness (i.e. lethargy, headaches, etc). So, each time after the blood transfusion (this was the second time), Travis has a little bit of new life pumped back into him and his energy level picks back up.
Friday, 9/13: We were at Rady Children’s Hospital for Travis to have his Quarterly MRI done. He has to have his port accessed first so that they can administer contrast as part of the MRI. They do the full Cranial-Spinal areas which takes about 45 minutes. Then they apply the contrast and do both again for another 45 minutes. What a trooper to lay there through 1.5 hours of MRI! Travis calls the MRI his torture with all the noise and vibrations. But the one thing that makes it almost bearable, thanks to the donation of a kind individual, is that they have a pair of goggles that he can wear with earphones to he can watch a movie during the MRI. Amazing technology! While we are there, they also checked his lab work and his Counts are good so we are off of quarantine!
Saturday, 9/14-Sunday, 9/15: It was another hot weekend in San Diego county again but Travis was able to make it out to both Soccer Games again. Even if he can’t play right now, he just loves being around the team and watching. He is such an inspiration!
Sunday, 9/15: It may be the Marinol talking but when Travis has a craving for food, we just go with it. Anything to help him keep the pounds on! Prior to chemo starting back in July, his weight had climbed back up to 62 pounds but he lost about 5 pounds during the first chemo round and then another 4 pounds after round 2. He has been holding steady at about 53 pounds since round 2 back in early August. He decided he wanted to celebrate our “Halfway through Chemotherapy” milestone at Claim Jumpers for dinner. He had mini-corndogs, fries and apples dipped in caramel sauce. Yum! When he asked for the dessert menu, we said by all means, sure. His first choice was carrot cake but they were all out so he settled for an Eclair. When we told the waiter what we were celebrating, he brought out dessert with candles on it which was really cool. The Éclair was on a dinner size plate and looked like a football covered in whipped cream. Delicious! When the waiter brought the check, he said that the manager had thrown in the dessert for free to help Travis celebrate. That was totally awesome and we went by to thank her on the way out.
Monday, 9/16: After being out for 2 weeks, it was back to school for Travis and Lynne was asked to fill in at Preschool. For a moment there, it almost seemed like old times! Well, at least we know what things will be like after chemo is done. Mrs. Mills was great about helping Travis get situated and back in the swing of things after being out.
Tuesday, 9/17: Travis was able to make it out to soccer practice for a little while. He has fun being around the guys and it pushes him to do just a little bit more. Good physical therapy even if it is brief. He said that his legs were really tired after since he just doesn’t have all of his strength now.
Wednesday, 9/18: We had “Back to School” night with Tyler at Oak Crest Middle School. It is hard to believe he is in the 8th grade now. Since he is in the Leadership class, they were asked to help out during the event and direct parents to the various classrooms. Tyler is one of the technical guys in the group so he helped out with sound system and music. It was great to be able to go through an abbreviated version of his schedule and meet all of his teachers. He is taking several honors courses and we are glad to see him push himself.
We don’t know about you but we are tired just looking back and writing all of this stuff!
Thanks,
Tony and Lynne
Travis the Warrior --- Kickin' Cancer! 