Monday - Sept 28th update

Every hour of every day there are changes that take place. As we updated everyone that Tanner was being released to "outpatient" status on Saturday afternoon,  he returned that evening back to the hospital, due to a fever and having pains. Since he is in the stage of Neutropenia, it is critical to monitor Tanner for any infection. Neutropenia occurs when neutrophil counts in the blood are too low. This is happens after each Chemo treatment.  Tanner was placed in isolation for precautionary reasons. Every type of test has been done to rule out different types of infection. After today's meeting with the physicians, they have suspicion that this is still an aftermath of the mucositis.

Right now the path that Tanner is on is to stay under watch and continue to treat for any and all types of infections until his counts rise again.

It's hard to be told that some of these serious pains can be "normal" in the cancer world, because to loved ones it is hard to watch a beautiful young boy go through this.

We stay strong for Tanner, but behind the mask it can be very emotional internally. To get through the treatment the fight is real. We know that Tanner is not alone, God is by his side. Its not even one day at a time, it is one hour at a time. We are grateful for the care that is given here at St. Jude. He is in the best hands.

Thank you for the continued support!

#Tannerstrong
 

Sat - Sept 26th update

Tanner has been released back into "outpatient" status and is at the Target house now. Some of the side effects that derive from Chemo treatments are common, but when the side effects turn for the worse, then constant care and stabilization is required. Tanner had what was called, Mucositis. The inflammation and sores were so bad that he was unable to eat or drink without an extreme amount of pain. He is doing better today. We would like for people to understand that within a day, feelings and/or emotions can change. Right now, Tanner feels "okay" and we will leave it at that.

Everything else that the chemo treatment is supposed to be doing, as far as healing is working. Once again, this is a roller coaster ride and what we can all do is keep the prayers and support going. We can never sit in Tanner's shoes and know exactly what he is feeling; only other cancer patients can relate to that. As we walk down the halls of St. Jude and we see other children of all ages going through the same feelings as Tanner, we can only pray that everyone can be healed from this horrible disease.

There has been a lot of #Tannerstrong support coming from everywhere and we will be posting all the support soon.

Thank you for the continuous support. Tanner and family are truly blessed with how much love is out there for him.

Thurs - Sept 24rth update

Tanner has had a couple of really rough days from the 2nd session of Chemo that he started last Thursday. Even though he was admitted to outpatient on Monday afternoon, he was admitted back into "inpatient" status yesterday afternoon. He is doing a lot better on pain medication and will be monitored closely. He has a scheduled MRI this morning.

We will update more this evening. We appreciate all the #tannerstrong support that is running rampant all the through the community and with friends and family members from different states.

In the meantime Tanner does have a "temporary" place to stay until treatment is done here at St. Jude. He will be at located at the Target house.

Thank you for the patience as we hadn't been able to update the blog.

We appreciate all the prayers, love, and support.

 

Sat-Sunday - Sept 19th-20th update

Tanner is still in  "inpatient" status, due to the monitoring of the chemotherapy and all the other medications that he must take during this 2nd session. Saturday, he had a visitor from one of his good friends, which cheered him up.

The side effects of the chemotherapy are happening now, and it makes it very hard for loved ones to see or hear of this brave young man going through this. He's in a lot of pain right now in certain areas of his body. Unfortunately, this is what chemo does..... I will say it.... this just plain sucks!!!!! We see the bigger picture, but its hard for a 14 year old to see this.

Please keep Tanner in your prayers. #tannerstrong!!

 

Friday - Sept 18th update

The evening of the 17th was a long, due to the nurses checking Tanner's urine to make sure the Chemo is flushing out, which it was. He had a spinal tap today and made it out of the procedure great. Tanner's appetite was pretty hardy because he could not have any food or drink prior to the procedure. In the late afternoon he was put on a six hour drip on a certain medication that is known to be a little hard on his heart. He was doing pretty good earlier in the day, but in the evening not to great. The up and downs are going to be expected.

In the meantime, Tanner will be checking into the Target House after he is changed back to "outpatient". The mail address is still the same and we will notify everyone if that changes.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. #tannerstrong

Thurs - Sept 17th update - Power of Prayer!!

THE POWER OF PRAYER!!!  Tanner's PET scan needed to show 25% decrease in tumors and growths to stay on course and not be bumped up to a higher dose of chemo.  This morning, his PET scan not only showed the decrease, it "failed" to light up (which means no active growth was present) in the previous listed areas:  0 tumors behind bladder, 0 growths in pelvis, 0 lymph nodes under the diaphragm!  The liver showed significant decrease on the CT and still did not show on the PET so it's likely it's killed the cancer cells and left a space that the image is picking up.  There is only one spot, a very tiny spot showing active on the PET in his intestines.  The Dr made the joking comment that this looks like a scan that someone finishing up treatment would be expecting.  It's not remission clear, but it's looking great. We went in expecting God to move and through faith & prayer he has!!!!!

We still have 2nd session treatment on schedule tonight. This course will be tough on the kidneys so the nurses will take urine samples every two hours.  He also has his second (of six) intrathecal injections of chemo tomorrow into the spinal canal.  Tanner is in good spirits right now and feeling ready for the challenges of the medications the next few days will bring.

 

Let's all take an opportunity to thank God tonight for hearing our prayers. We thank all of you for the many prayers that are continually being said. Tanner still has a journey to go through, but this nothing short of a miracle that happened at St. Jude today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Communication - Please understand

 We thank everyone for thinking of Tanner every day and looking out for the parents too!

Please understand if communication through phone or text is limited at times, because we are all focusing our efforts on Tanner's immediate care. We will continue to send daily blog updates, especially during the "inpatient times". Thank you all for the continued support. #tannerstrong