A Line Of Time

It's now been over a year since that horrible day Elijah was diagnosed with a brain tumour!  I can't say that it's gone quickly, in fact it feels like it was years ago when that happened.  But here we are counting our blessings with a 'beautiful bonny boy' - as my Nana used to say - and that was when he was a skinny wee thing.  If only she could see him now! 

I've written a brief timeline of events from the past 5 months to avoid writing a novel and will end with a brief update on Elijah...

12 March - Start of chemo.

15 March - Elijah refusing to eat or drink and vomiting.  Hospitalised to prevent dehydration.

17 March - Elijah out of hospital and improving.

19 March - The three of us fly to Marlborough Sounds to attend my good friend's wedding.  Elijah back to 'normal' and loving being out and about.  We have a great time away.

24 March - Fly back home to continue weekly chemotherapy.  Generally for the most part of the week Elijah is grumpy, unsettled, tired and waking constantly at night.  Constant mood changes, happy one minute and upset the next.

13 May - Elijah fell head first off the couch and had a very unsettled night.

14 May - Discovered huge swelling on Elijah's forehead due to a low platelet count so I took him to hospital.  Elijah deteriorated quickly with a fever, dehydration, swelling forehead, very swollen and chapped lips.  He was put on IV antibiotics immediately, re hydrated, CT scan to check internal bleeding which there was none and given a platelet transfusion.

15 May - Elijah quickly improved, cultures shows no infection and is allowed to go home.

19 May - Clinic appointment where Oncologist reveals results of Elijah's CT scan showing no tumour growth in comparison to his previous MRI and an actual reduction in size of the cyst that was growing from the tumour... CHEMOTHERAPY IS WORKING!!!  (Bearing in mind a CT scan is not as comprehensive as an MRI and the expected results of the chemo is to stop the growth of the tumour and not get rid of it all together.)

2 June - Chemo stretched to 3 weekly allowing Elijah's body more time to recuperate between doses and Elijah becoming much easier to manage.

23 June - Chemo stretched to 4 weekly.  Generally 5 days after chemo Elijah's back to his normal happy self.  Sleeping slowly improving.  We are (I am) currently averaging getting up only twice a night which is amazing:)

Developmentally Elijah is continuing to slowly progress.  Physically he is now able to swivel around on the spot when sitting, sit up from a lying position and the most recent, most exciting thing is that he will now stand up supported and weight bear which is a massive achievement for him!  He is even starting to pull himself up off his bum and then always smiles and looks around to make sure someone is watching how cleaver he is:)  He hasn't progressed with his speech at all but has a level of understanding now which is so lovely to observe.  We have taught him to point to different body parts on command, poke out his tongue, twinkle his toes, raise and drop his arm, lye down and various things like that.  He's doing so well and we have so much to be thankful for.  We have also recently moved out of Kaiaua but I'll tell you all about that in my next post... so until then my friends, keep well.