On Day +174 (March 9, 2007; Friday)

Charley develops side effects of chemotherapy:
1. Low mood and emotion
2. Neuropathy, low extremities pain
3. Low blood counts, including neutropenia
4. Lost hair

Charley had a significant emotional change since the 10th day of chemotherapy (March 2, the morning right after the injection of vincristine and L-asparaginase on D9). Initially, Charley became quite and felt lousy. And then, he began crying sometimes when he felt pain or was asked to take medicine. He is agitated easily since then. In the beginning, doctors thought Charley was not comfortable staying in hospital so they asked his parents for Charley’s outdoor activities. However, we studied the side effects of chemo agents being given and found that both VCR and L-asparaginase list depression as possible adverse event. After presenting this concern, doctors put a request to psychiatrist on March 3. They came this afternoon and no decision has been made.

Nehemiah brought him to a local museum on March 4. Charley got certain degree of stabilization up to yesterday. This morning, Charley’s emotion is almost out of control. It is hard for both his nurses and parents to take care of him.

Doctors are also concerned about neuropathy which is usually caused by vincristine. Charley shows some mild syndromes so the second injection was postponed one day to March 8 (D17).

Overall, Charley keeps responding to the treatment. The absolute blast cells remain absent in his peripheral blood. The spleen size is getting smaller. No need for plasma transfusion over a week. Liver function is within high normal range.

As expected, his neutropenia is getting heavy (zero neutrophil for several days). Charley has a fever almost daily. The platelet transfusion is not as frequent as that of last week. So far, no clinical trial is suitable to Charley as the second line Rx. It is quite challenging and doctors keep working on it.

Visitors and kid friends make Charley happy. Brian and Paulina and their brother’s family came to play with Charley on March 5. Six kids played together at the Resource Room for three hours. Some of them even spoke Mandarin with Charley. Then, we had dinner at a nearby restaurant. Charley was tired but he still wanted to go. Both Brian and Douglas prayed for Charley.

Mr. Mizumoto, volunteer at 6-North, is an artist. He drew together with Charley the whole morning on Thursday. We were amazed by the effective outcome of “art therapy”. Under the attack of diseases, Charley still does his best to manage himself, such as taking routine medicine, eating, drinking, and keeping busy by playing with his transformers and power rangers. He loves listening children pop music and hymnals. Pastor John prepared 2CDs which Charley enjoys.

Friends who have medical backgrounds give us timely advice. Charley’s immune system is weak for a long period of time. It is aimed to build it up so he is able to tolerate the side effects of treatment and defend the leukemia.

We were touched when we read the blog of Mr. Fei Lin (resides in Singapore) recently. He has a similar disease and situation as Charley – a failed bone marrow transplant. His partner found out about Charley’s recurrence and wrote to express their care.

Lastly, we are working on expanding Charley’s webpage to contain the blog function so that more people may participate in our “Help Charley” mission. We deeply appreciate Ms. Min Qiu for serving Charley’s webpage voluntarily while her family was attacked by Lyme Disease (both her husband and her daughter are undergoing treatment). Through the effort of Mrs. Le (English as the second language teacher), Charley’s blog is opened now. Please sign in and feel free to provide your advice and generous support.

Urgent Prayer Request for Charley:
1. Help his high fever
2. The side effects from current treatment are minimized and healed so Charley is compliant to the protocol.
3. Strengthen the immune defense function.
4. Grant wisdom and blessing to the doctors for the second line protocol.

Intercession Link - Prayer Request for someone who cares about Charley:
* Mr. Fei Lin’s recovery from his leukemia treatment.

二零零七年三月九日,星期五

化療給田田帶來的副作用:
1. 情緒不穩: 時而低落, 易怒
2. 神經性病變, 下肢痛
3. 血球數字偏低, 包括嗜中性白血球減少症
4. 脫髮

化療後的第十天, 田田有明顯的情緒變化. ( 三月二日的上午, 就在注射長春新鹼和左旋門冬酶之後發生的.) 開始時, 田田變得安靜, 情緒低落, 接着痛時或要他吃藥, 就吵着,甚至大哭 容易激動。這可能是化療帶來的副作用。醫生也覺得他在醫院裏不舒服, 所以建議他的父母帶他到戶外去活動。總言之, 我們硏究結果, 化療劑 (長春新鹼和左旋門冬酶) 的副作用造成了田田的憂鬱症狀, 當我們對醫生表白我們的憂慮時, 主治醫生便在當天發出會診心理醫生之要求;不巧遇周末,一共等了六天,今天 心理醫生來了, 尚未作任何治療決定。

三月四日, 爸爸帶田田参觀附近一個藝術博物館 也開車到市中心逛逛。幾天來 田田情緒暫時穩一些。但今早他情緖失控, 令家長和護士手足無措。

醫生為顧慮到田田因長春新鹼而引起的輕微神經病變, 所以第二針延了一天, 到三月八日才打。

一般來說,治療藥物對田田有一定效用; 在他的血液裡已沒有幼稚細胞, 脾臟也變小一些, 他已一個禮拜不用輸紅血球, 肝功能也趨向正常化。

就如預期的, 嗜中性白血球減少症愈來愈嚴重, (已經很多天沒有嗜中性白血球細胞) 。田田幾乎每天在發燒, 他的血小板輸血不如上週頻繁。目前沒有進行中的臨床實驗可供田田作第二線的化療, 這對治療小組挑戰極大。

訪客和小孩都能使田田快樂. 三月五日那天, Bryan, Paulina 和Bryan的弟弟都來陪田田玩 ,六個孩子在會客廳裡玩了三個小時, 他們還能跟田田說中國話。之後, 我們就在附近的餐廳吃晚飯, 田田雖然很累, 但他仍然要去。Bryan 和 Douglas都替田田得醫治禱告。

Mr. Mizumoto 在六樓病房區當義工, 是個藝術家, 星期四上午他和田田一起畫畫, 這種”藝術治療”的效果是驚人的。雖然受到疾病的折磨, 田田還是想自己照顧自己, 例如定時吃藥,和飲食; 更不忘玩他的變形金剛和無敵大俠客。他愛聽兒童流行歌曲和讚美詩歌, 約翰牧師為田田錄好的兩片音樂光碟, 他欣賞不已。

有醫學背景的朋友們適時給我們指導, 田田的免疫系統因久病而虛弱, 這免疫系統正需重建, 俾以抵禦血癌和對付化療所導致的副作用。

近日, 拜讀了新加坡 林飛先生的部落格裏寫的文章, 我們很感動。林先生和田田都是得急性淋巴白血病, 於接受骨髓移植後的復發, 網友得知田田舊病復發, 在部落格裏寫下了表達關懷和支持田田的話。(原文附後)

最近, 我們也為田田設了一個有部落格的網頁,目的在讓更多的人参與“援肋田田”的使命. 我們深深的感謝 邱敏女士自願為田田設網頁。 現時, 她的家人受到Lyme 疾病的攻擊 (她的先生和女兒正在接受治療.) 。 經由教田田英文的林老師 (Le, Erin)的努力, 田田的部落格得以開放, 有心人可自由登入並提供您的寶貴意見, 慷慨支持,不吝賜教。謝謝!

謹請各位緊急地為田田祝禱:
· 免除高燒
· 順從議定, 願化療對田田的副作用減到最低程度, 並能早日痊癒
· 增強他的免役系統,俾以扺抗頑癌
· 為醫生們祝禱, 也給予他們大智慧, 早日規劃出下一步治療方案, 包括第二線藥的議定。

代禱網-為關懷田田的朋友祝禱:
· 為林飛先生的白血病痊愈祝禱
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附: 林飛的博客頁
第924天 多雨的新年 2007-02-25 07:14:06

这个春节真是一个多雨的春节，好像从年三十那天开始，就每天都会至少下一场大雨。这几天的天气都形成了一个定式，那就是上午艳阳高照，闷热的很，而到了下午则是瓢泼大雨。闷热的天气让人觉得很难过，我和他不怎么动，都会流不少汗，还是下大雨舒服，凉风习习的，当然前提是不必出门。

春节在华人世界而言，本应是个让人快乐的节日，可是疾病似乎却总不会挑日子。前段时间从网上知道了一个叫做田田的小男孩的故事（有关田田的故事，可以在下面的链接看到：http://helpcharley.byethost15.com/chphp），他因为患上了白血病，3岁时就被亲生父母遗弃北京市朝阳区三里屯的一个水果摊儿上，虽然后来被送到了福利院，但是因为种种原因治疗总不能按照计划很好的进行，造成病情的数次复发。去年他六岁的时候，被一对在美国的华人父母收养了，成为白血病儿被收养的第一人。经过3个月的寻找，终于找到了符合要求的骨髓，并于去年10月份进行了骨髓移植手术。本以为田田从此就能慢慢的恢复健康，找回本应属于他的快乐，没料想，就在今年的2月17日、大年三十除夕夜，他的病情再次复发，骨髓移植彻底失败。我想，现在的田田最需要的已经不再是经济上的援助，他最需要的是大家的祝福与祈祷，所以有心的朋友们，为田田送上一份祝福吧！

由兔猫张贴 http://blog.wenxuecity.com/comment.php?date=200702&postID=43677