My apologies for the lengthy delay in getting the blog updated. Jade and I have been having some difficulty connecting, and I wanted to be sure that the information I share is accurate – I’m going to do better!
It has been a busy month for Mason – lots of travel and lots of hospital visits. Mason had to make a late night visit to the ER in early May due to a high temperature. He was finally admitted after a long three and a half hour wait in the ER in the middle of the night. Jade’s dad drove Jade and Mason up to Edmonton last Tuesday for Mason’s follow up visit with the surgeon. The news was all good – the surgery sites look good and the doctors were pleased with how well everything is healing. Tests on the tumor tissue show that the chemo has been more than 95% effective, which is very promising. Mason was happy to have the pins taken out of his wrist and his cast removed, although he didn’t much enjoy the process of having the pins removed. He is now wearing a splint instead of a cast. He has good movement in his fingers and thumb, but limited movement in his wrist right now. He will have to start doing rotation exercises to increase the movement as he goes along.
Immediately following with appointment with the surgeons, Jade and Mason hopped a plane back to Regina and went straight to the hospital there for more chemo. He was released on Sunday, but had to be back on Wednesday again. After the current treatment, there is only one more and then they get a nice three week break again. In amongst all of these hospital visits, Mason’s platelet count dropped quite low and he ended up having a transfusion of platelets (which Jade says looked like a big bag of fat). That has helped to pump Mason up a bit.
The Clewis’s are eagerly counting down to the last chemo treatment and have been crossing each one off the list. There are nine chemo treatments left and it is anticipated that Mason’s last treatment will begin on August 20. He has another follow-up visit with the surgeons on June 11 in Edmonton. The good news is that the end of all this is in sight for Mason – and he’s kicking the cancer’s butt!
