Not too much news is good news

Good morning,

Between doctors appointments and back to school, it has been a busy week for the Hantschers. Fortunately thus far, the intensive treatment regime does not appear to be hitting Dane too hard. His various blood counts have remained within normal and acceptable ranges and as a result, he has not had to receive any blood products.

When the week began we thought we would only have to make two trips - Tuesday & Wednesday - to the hospital, however a treatment decision we made Tuesday morning required us to be there four days in a row, Tuesday - Friday. Dane had to have an IV put in on Tuesday to receive the first of four daily chemo injections, so we (he and I, but primarily Dane) made the decision to keep the IV in for the rest of the week. By doing so, he received all his chemo through the IV, as opposed to the Thursday and Friday treatments being injected under the skin in his leg. He really didn't like having the injections by the home care nurses the week before so it just made more sense to make daily trips to avoid the anxiety.

The treatments went in just fine, however Thursday's trip was made much more stressful than it needed to be because the technician that took Dane's blood via a finger poke disregarded the way he prepares himself for blood tests and various other pokes. He tells all the nurses he counts 1 - 2 - 3 (and sometimes it's a pretty slow count) and then they can put the needle in. All the individuals we've dealt with have been wonderful at respecting his approach, with the exception of the technician this past week. Admittedly he was tense about this finger poke, because the plan had been to draw the blood from his IV. However the blood just wouldn't come so the finger poke became necessary. In my opinion the technician interpreted his tension as a lack of cooperation and after she felt she'd given him a chance to do it his way, she did it her way - which was to jab his finger super quick and then squeeze it really hard to get the blood out quickly. The whole time this was happening Dane was absolutely wailing and because there are no doors in the hematology area, the entire waiting room heard this poor child screams. He and I were both distraught and after I calmed him down I took a deep breath and assertively questioned why she did it that way. I stressed the end result of doing it her way was a traumatized seven year old who has been poked and prodded countless times in the past six weeks. Once Dane and had a chance to talk about the situation further, I clearly understood he was more upset because she took away what little control he has over the leukemia that has completely changed his life. I have calmed down about the situation now, but trust me, I was livid and very upset on Thursday. Dirk and my mom had to hear me vent after it was all over.

On a more positive note, Dane went back to school three full afternoons (Tues - Thurs) this week - yeah! He seemed to really enjoy spending time with his classmates, however his teachers say he is very quiet. They are actually hoping he'll show his true personality soon and cause some "Dane" trouble one of these days. It's funny how we all miss annoying behaviours and wish for them when someone is sick. Assuming he continues to feel well next week, he will be in school quite regularly, including Thursday when the Cancer Nurse and Hospital Teacher visit the grade 2 & 3 classrooms to talk about leukemia.

Dane and Ashley had a treat yesterday afternoon, as their favorite baby sitter took them to see a movie and shopping at St. Vital mall. They both very much enjoyed the outing and a few hours on my own gave me a chance to get caught up on some errands. Assuming he is "co-operative", Dane will join his 7/8 hockey team at the practice tonight for team photos. It will be good for him to see all the players again - we've been told like his classmates they miss him too.

Have a good weekend everyone. I'll post a new update in a few days giving the news about next week. It should be quieter as we only have two scheduled visits to the hospital - Tuesday & Wednesday. We have a couple of highlights coming up though - Dirk's 40th b-day is Feb 26 and my brother is coming in for four days from New Brunswick. We can't wait!

Take care - Janie and Dirk