Update

It's only a week now until Fintan has his last cycle of chemotherapy. Also next week Fintan will be having his eyes examined by Mr Hungerford at the Royal London Hospital; as long as Fintan is continuing to respond well to the chemotherapy, there will be a well earned rest from all the poking, prodding and medicines for the brave little chap.

The affects of the chemo are clearly more apparent now. Fintan has had another infection and spent the most of this week in hospital. It was thankfully nothing to worry about. On Sunday Fintan developed a temperature and because he was neutropenic, the hospital needed to administer antibiotics and take blood cultures to see what infection he had. In turns out he has an ear infection and was therefore allowed home on Wednesday afternoon with a new nasal gastric tube and a couple of days of oral antibiotics to take....banana flavour this time! Also, Fintan's blood count dropped to a level whereby the doctors were considering giving Fintan a blood transfusion, however they have decided to leave it until Friday when they will do another blood count in the hope he will recover naturally.

The stays in hospital have a big affect on Archie and Barnaby. Archie is a very sensitive boy and adores Fintan. He has had a lot of tears going to school this week and has not wanted to go, I have had to literally drag him in. It's because he misses his little brother and his mummy, and also he worries desperately about Fintan. I must say, both Fiona and I find this part of the whole process particularly stressful. We know that Fintan is too young to remember any of what is happening to him, but the boys, especially Archie will remember this for a long time. I only hope it's not having too much of a toll on them.

There is some good news. We are really seeing an improvement in what Fintan seems to be seeing. He is reaching for very small items, and he even sees objects on the same colour background. For example the white tubes from his central line on a white, cotton bed sheet. He has also started shuffling about on his bum...backwards. It's not the most efficient mode of transport, but effective nevertheless. Fintan has also discovered his brothers toys, and as you can see in this short video clip, he knows what he wants and he gets it!

....also, check out the dancing in this one!

Penultimate Chemo Cycle

On Tuesday Fintan had his 5th and penultimate cycle of chemo. We were a little unsure whether or not it would be going ahead since he had the infection the previous week, but we had his blood count measured on Monday and all was okay.

Fintan was great as usual, I think he now knows what to expect and just sits there and plays whilst it all goes on. He was a little sick and agitated at times, but who can blame him.

At the hospital they have an ex-patient who volunteers on the ward which Fintan attends. He helps to entertain the children by doing magic tricks and making balloon animals, etc. I was playing cards with him and a young patient, when he revealed he was registered blind and could only see a very small area about 1/2 a metre in front of him, and only out of one eye. I found this incredible as, even with his extremely limited vision, he still navigated about, played cards, built balloon animals without it being at all noticeable that he was blind. Hopefully Fintan will be left with more vision than Simon, but nevertheless it is very reassuring to see how someone can get by so brilliantly without a sense we take so much for granted.

As usual, Fintan had a nasal gastric (NG) tube fitted so we can give him his anti-sick medicine; unfortunately he got really distressed when it was pushed in and it took several attempts before it had been successfully inserted. The poor little lad, however, you'd think he'd learn, but no, he pulled it out again on Wednesday morning and had to go through the whole ordeal once again.

Fiona had to take Fintan back into Wycombe hospital today, as the area around where his central line exits his chest had become red and weepy. It seems he has another infection and is on a 10 day course of antibiotics, again. So he'll be keeping his new NG tube for a while so we can give him his medicine, and it's 10 days of administering medicine at midnight - oh joy! (Although I won’t be moaning too loudly, as Fiona might make me stay in hospital next time!)

Finally an apology; I forgot to pack the camera on Tuesday so no cute hospital pictures this time!

Update

As some of you may have heard, Fintan has been in hospital since Sunday morning. Don't worry though, he came home today and has actually been bouncing around his hospital bed since about Sunday lunchtime.

We took Fintan into Wycombe hospital after his temperature went very high on Sunday morning. He seemed really well in the morning, after suffering with a cold for a few days, he was smiling and giggling as usual and ate all his breakfast with the usual gusto, but shortly after he became lethargic and non-responsive. At the hospital, he soon picked-up, but nevertheless it seemed Fintan had an infection somewhere so the doctors needed to keep him in. They checked his blood counts and found he was neutropenic (when his body can't fight infections itself) so they started him on three different antibiotics. Thankfully, the results of some blood cultures came in today which showed nothing had grown and this meant two of the antibiotics could be dropped and that Fintan and Fiona could come home.

Despite the recent infections, and losing a bit more hair, Fintan really is doing well. He's really interacting with us, and enjoys a good game of peek-a-boo. He's no longer a baby and is becoming more of a boy, which is great to see considering everything he's going through. Fiona's taken a couple of video clips of him recently which I will try and upload over the next few days so you can see what I mean.

Fintan is due to have his 5th cycle of chemo on Tuesday next week; we'll let you know how he gets on shortly after then.