Thursday, May 22, 2008

Last Big Pow Wow With The Team

We met with Matthew's doctors yesterday to go over all the procedures from 1st diagnosis to now and beyond. Matt is doing good with a few little blips. He is for now considered acute GVHD not chronic witch is good and we hope that stays that way. As Matt comes off the prednisone that might change a bit. Matt dose have GVHD in his stomach but no were else that's concerning so far. He doses have to wear a back brace especially molded for him because of the compression fractures at T7 & T8 vertebra's. Matt will undergo a bone density test today to state the obvious. He is very brittle from large doses of steroids. Matt gets a IV drug (cant remember the name) once a month to help boost his bones back to were they need to be. So Boy's even though you don't like it DRINK YOUR MILK! We have a plan of witch drugs to taper first, and hopefully by June 6th when Matt is off prednisone then we can talk about trying to get him to take his Magnesium pills orally so we can get his Hickman line out. Tacro helps prevent and treat GVHD, but it robs your body of much needed magnesium. Matt has to be on Tacro for a few months so the only other option is taking the pills. He hates them, there big and he will need to take 15-20 a day. Crazy hu! When his Hickman line comes out then we can stop the Lovenox shots, he gets those 2x's a day. Matt is so brave and we are so proud of how he is handling all this. He is truly a VERY special son to have, and I'm glad he's ours! He is still on 21 med's, 1 IV fluid, 1 Shot daily.
We are packing up the apartment so after our 9:00 appointment tomorrow we get to move back home!!! YEA, Matt and Mom are so excited we just can't stand it. We already have appointments with his Doctor Irwin at Mary Bridge next week. Also with a orthopedic surgeon at Children's Hospital. We plan on having a quiet weekend as a FAMILY again. I can't remember the last time we all were together. We have alot of catching up to do.
We hope you all have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day Weekend. The Yantzers

Saturday, May 17, 2008



Here Are The Million Dollar Pictures!


It was so cool watching Matt take pictures of me getting my hair cut off. Priceless!!!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Lot's of Tests Today Day 92

Some good news, the blood clots in Matt's right arm are gone. YEA! That means no infection there. Today is day 1 of no more Temp's, we need to have no Temp's for 48 hours before they will consider letting us go. Matt is scheduled for his EGD stomach scope and biopsy today at 12:45. If he dose have GVHD there that will be most likely why he has had the Temp's. We spoke with the Orthopedic Surgeon last night and he wants to put Matt into a back brace for now to keep him still so they can get more xrays to see the extent of his T7-T8 compression fractures in his spine. Matt will also undergo a Bone Dencity test today to see how much the prednisone has effected that. Matt is still on the Prednisone taper, we want him off it as soon as possible. Because that drug is one of the Medicines that fight GVHD they might have to put him on something else if the EGD comes back positive. Hope you all stay COOL today, we are glad to be in an air conditioned room for now. We will update when we here something. Keep those positive thoughts coming. Lynn & Matt

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Knock On Wood Dosen't Work!!!!

Well what do I say and were do I start. Everything was going pretty good other then some back pain Matt has been having, then Tuesday night Matt started running another fever 39c. They sent us over to Children's Hospital again and admitted us. They didn't know were the infection was or if it was a infection at all or GVHD. True Matt doesn't have GVHD in his bone marrow but that doesn't mean that it can't pop up anywhere else in his body at any time. The Team was all over finding out the question We keep asking, WHY! Yesterday was day 90 and they did a CT scan to see if they could find any infection anywhere in his body. They also did a ECO Cardiogram to check for the same thing in his Heart. They did lots of Blood tests also to check for infection.
Today is day 91 Thursday the 15th and we were able to talk to the Doctors in great length, they had lots to say so here goes... They feel the Gleevac Chemo is interfering with his blood cell productivity so he needs 2 blood transfusions today, about 10 day's ago he needed 2 unites also. They also feel since none of the blood tests have come back positive yet, that Matt may have some GVHD brewing in his stomach. They also told us that the prednisone that we have had him on for so long and are desperately trying to get him off of has made his bone density week. So week that the CT Scan shows that T7 & T8 vertebrae of his spine have compression fractures.
Matt is scheduled tomorrow morning for another EGD to confirm if his temp's are due to GVHD. We are also going to consult a Ortho specialist about his bone density and the compression fractures in his back. We new Matt wasn't feeling very well and that his strength was going to take a while to come back, but we never thought for a minute it was this bad. Matt is scheduled for a ultra sound today to see if the blood clots he had in his right arm are maybe have an infection in them. All in all Matt is trying to stay positive, it helps that he is on pain medication 24-7 to help with the pain.
Matt and Mom did have some fun last night. They had a couple of hair dressers come in to give all the Mom's on the floor a hair cut for a belated Mother's day present. I took advantage of that, but Matt ,I love him dearly talked Mom into cutting off all my hair. So I agreed to do it! WOW I cant believe I have no hair. We will post pictures in a couple of day's. All the nurses were feeling my head and telling me that my head felt like a chinchilla. Pretty funny. So yes my daughter Nicole gets her wish, I have brown hair now just like my daughter instead of blond.
I hope you all are jealous because I can go down the freeway at 60 miles an hour now with my windows rolled down all the way and my hair doesn't get messed up!! Like yours. Trying to keep some humor in this Mess. It's wearing both Steve and I down but somehow we are able to pick each other up and keep going. Love to all, Miss you all! Matt and Lynn

Monday, May 12, 2008

GOOD NEWS FINALLY

Well we can start out by saying we are out of the hospital again. ( knock on wood ). Matt had an infection in his Hickman Line again. The Doctors gave Mom a pat on the back because we caught it really early so his Line didn't have to come out again. Matt was put on an antibiotic that has to be given every 6 hours for 11 days. The Doctors said that most parents keep their kid's in the hospital for the coarse of the antibiotic because it's so hard to do. I told them that we are not the average parents and wanted to be out of the hospital. It takes a little time to flush his line, hook him up, watch to make sure no air bubbles in the line, then wait 1 hour for it to finish, and flush his line again. Try doing that every 6 hours 24 hours a day. By Friday Mom wore her self out and Dad came to the rescue! Good job Steve!!!
Today is day 88 and we met with the team today and they told us that All the tests came back very good. The bone marrow showed no signs of Leukemia or Philadelphia Chromosome. The bone marrow biopsy came back and showed No GVHD!!! Yey, Matt way to fight. Matt's bone marrow hasn't figured out how to produce it's own antibodies yet so they gave him a transfusion to help jump start the system. That test is very expensive and they wouldn't mix it up till we were there in the building. We hope it works.
The team is keeping us busy with 12 appointments this week, the most important one is on Friday at 2:00 witch they will go over all that they did and what is to come with Matt. This is the discharge appointment ( we are so excited ). We cant wait to get home and be a family again. The team has contacted Mary Bridge and our Dr. Irwin there and told them that we will be coming home soon. We will have weekly appointments for a while, as Matt still has his Hickman Line in and probably be sent home on IV fluids.
We are excited to see when he gets Medications taken away, but it seems every time they stop one they start another. Matt is still on approximately 17 different medications, some he will be on for about a year or so. Matt is doing great in spirits and is motivated to come home. Keep up the prayers they are helping a great deal, especially in keeping Mom and Dad's inner strength going. Thank You All, The Yantzers

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Another Blip In The Road To Recovery

Well today is day 80 and we are back in the Hospital. It all started on Thursday night, Matt wasn't feeling to great and Mom was keeping close tabs on his temp witch has been up and down all week. Finally we made the call to the team and they sent us to Children's Hospital to get checked out because his temp was 38.2C which is 101 F. We were at Children's till midnight when they sent us home for the night, with a follow up the next morning with the team. Steve came up to Seattle Friday morning to be with Matt and we both took him over to SCCA. The team immediately sent us to triage were he was assessed and found to have another temp. They started antibiotics and told us they were going to admit him to Children's Hospital. They did lots of blood test's, a chest xray, and told us to be patient while they tried to figure out what's wrong. Yesterday Day 79 they told us that one of the blood cultures came back positive. That means that Matt has another infection somewhere in his body, most likely his Hickman line again. We have to stay in the Hospital for a few day's so they can pinpoint were the infection is and fix it. Matt has his 3rd spinal LP Chemo on Tuesday and a Bone Marrow Biopsy to make sure his Bone Marrow doesn't have a virus and that it is still working well. They gave Matt 2 units of Blood on Friday witch is making him feel better. The Team is a little concerned why his red counts and platelets are down, we hope it's because of the infection and not an issue of his Bone Marrow. We can only hope this is a quick fix and are still on track in coming home soon. Matt has been going to school here at Fred Hutch and likes it but misses his School and Friends. Hope to bring good news next blog we post. Keep praying, we are still fighting this nasty cancer. Lynn & Matt