Dylan didn't start nursery this week like many other children.. the nursery haven't had their oxygen training course yet, even though he isn't on oxygen in the day anymore but I digress...
Dylan is due to start nursery on Monday the 19th.. But Dylan has had chemo this week so if his blood counts are low next week he will not be going on the Monday as he will be too at risk from infection. I will then find out his blood counts for the following week on Tuesday 20th and if they are still low he will miss the rest of the week. You see his counts tend to stay low for up to 2 weeks after chemo, only just picking up in time for his next dose it seems..
He won't be attending nursery the majority of chemo week either.. Monday I won't know his counts early enough to decide whether to send him in but usually they are up enough so I might have to make a judgement call on that one. Tuesday we have to collect his chemo for the week ahead from the hospital and have his first dose. That could be morning or afternoon depending on their theatre list but hopefully if it is in the afternoon he can attend the morning nursery session. Wednesday is his worst day when he usually feels pretty rotten and spikes a fever so he wouldn't be attending as the risk of febrile seizure from a high fever is too great. Thursday he is often either in hospital from his fever or sleeps in late to recover. Friday his body is usually adjusted to the drugs so he is almost back to his 'normal' self, despite still having another dose to come, so he may attend that day if he wanted to..
Potentially I see Dylan attending nursery 3-4 days out of every 3 week cycle. That is a lot of missed days, missed chances to learn, to interact with other children, to progress his skills, to just be a normal child!!
That makes me a little sad inside, no matter how scared I am about him attending nursery I hate the thought of him missing such a big opportunity and potentially getting behind the other children. Whilst I cannot replace the interaction with other children I can try to help him develop and learn at home so I have started looking into home school resources..
You may see more blog posts focusing on that side of things as treatment starts to become more settled and hopefully we can start to control the fevers. I will share with you all what we've done each week and how well things have or haven't worked.
I am very new to this idea, so any resources you think I may find helpful please comment with the links or email them to me at kerry_askin@hotmail.com
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