Christmas & hospital

Ben has continued his treatments since the last update and seems to be responding well. He has been getting fevers and had a cold and stomach flu for the last 3 weeks but in general, seems to be tolerating the chemo. The dosage of the dreaded ARA-C, that gave him a bad reaction a while back, has been increased to one half from one

quarter the normal dose. Tomorrow he goes into the hospital for three quarters of the normal dose to see how he will tolerate that.

We have noticed that he seems weaker as far as running around. He often stops and says his heart is going too fast. The doxorubicin that he has been getting for over a year now, does affect the heart and tends to weaken it. He has been getting regular ECGs and ultrasounds to monitor his heart, but we can see the difference and he can certainly feel it. Hopefully everything will go well tomorrow for the ARA-C.

On a good note, the Kourageous Kids calendar, sponsored by Balding For Dollars and BC Children’s Hospital, has come out. Ben’s drawing was picked to be the cover! He is very proud of the calendar. If you are interested in a copy, it costs $10 and all proceeds go to Children’s Hospital. I will send it out to you.

Christmas went very well. Ben and Stephanie were up at 6:30am! They loved all their presents and played most of the day with them.

It snowed yesterday too. That was a nice little bonus. If Ben feels well, we may go tobogganing after the hospital visit.

Hope you all have a great rest of the holidays! From all of us, we would like to wish you a very happy and healthy New Year !