Wed, Aug 20th - Wed, Aug 27th - Cole continues to feel better from his recovery from Pneumonia, however now he is beginning to experience belly pain and the official diagnosis is that he has developed Pancreatitis. Apparently Pancreatitis is a side effect of one of his Chemo drugs. He is given pain medicine in an attempt to relieve some of his pain, however this causes severe itchiness over his entire body and lasts for hours. This is a new side effect for him. They attempt to relieve this itchiness with other meds, but unsuccessfully. This goes on each day for about 3-4 days, trying different pain meds each time. However, it was not until about the 4th day of this and I believe 5th different pain med that they found one that did not cause itching. By the next day the pain had subsided and the Pancreatitis was nearly gone.

Over this time he had begun to have fevers and these did not go away until the 26th. So more testing began and on top of numerous blood tests, I believe we used just about every type of imaging they have. He had an abdominal sonogram, abdominal CT scan, abdominal MRI, CT scan of his chest, echo cardiogram and x-rays. All looked normal except for some spots on his lungs that they believe is either a fungal infection or a bacterial infection. Either way his PORT will now need to be removed and they will also perform a BAL (bronchoalveolar lavage) to determine the type of infection in the lungs.

On Tuesday they tested his bone marrow and CNS (central nervous system) fluids and reported the results to us late on Wednesday. It was not the news we wanted to hear. Leukemic cells were still present in the CNS, however the bone marrow was still clean. With the bone marrow still being clean, it will allow them to focus solely on the CNS for a short bit. So they will be starting him on a new Chemo drug on Friday and continue it over a course of 3 weeks.

This was obviously not the news that we wanted, however we are still hopeful. If this latest round of chemo is successful, then they would follow it with another 3-4 week round of chemo and then prepare him for a bone marrow transplant.

Cole is handling all very well. He is an amazingly strong kid! When he is feeling well, you would never know that he has gone through so much. He is constantly his fun loving, joking self. Always making the doctors and nurses laugh and warming our hearts with his infectious smile.

His battle was so appropriately named Cole Strong and he is living up to it! His strength is what will get him and us through this illness. Thanks again for all of you support, thoughts and prayers!

Cole Strong in his hospital room

Denise and Cole

Cole and Chris