radiotherapy finished

The radiotherapy part of Ethan's treatment has now been completed. All went to plan this week with him receiving the last couple of doses on Tuesday and Wednesday. This was a huge relief and meant the doctors could now focus on the stomach/bowel problem. On Wednesday afternoon they increased his naso feeds to 30ml/hour. He was tolerating this as well as eating. His mood had also picked up, he was very happy and full of cheekiness. We were told he could go home either tonight or tomorrow morning. We chose to go in the morning in case things didn't go to plan like previously. That evening Ethan started getting abdo pain again. The feeds were stopped and another xray was ordered. The xray was different to previous ones and indicated that he had a full bowel obstruction. They gave him some pain relief and a surgical review was arranged for the morning.

The surgeons reviewed him Thursday morning and were confused! The xray indicated a bowel obstruction but Ethan presented with no pain and with a nice soft belly. They decided there was no need to take it further. The plan was to start the feeds at 10ml/hour and increase to 20mls/hour. They didn't want to increase them beyond 20mls so that his stomach and bowel could have a bit of a rest. If he tolerated this, we could go home tomorrow.

All went well. We are home for the weekend before chemo on Monday. While we are there they will try and increase the feeds to maintenance level (30ml/hour). If this can't be achieved we are faced with more issues but all is looking good at the moment.