UPDATES and DATES OF TREATMENT

I'll try to post the dates for treatment as Lucas proceeds through his treatments. The most recent will be at the top. As things change I'll update the page to make sure everyone is aware. As the dates pass, I'll post a note as to his condition.

September 13th, 2000 (by Anna Lou)

Lucas started taking the oral chemo drug called Accutane last week taking about 4 days of it. Sunday morning when he got up he had a croupy cough. Monday when Lana took him to the clinic for his lab work his calcium had dropped a lot so they stopped the Accutane. Yesterday he started running a fever. Temp was 100.8 which does not seem very high, but as he does not have an immune system at this time the doctors put him in the hospital and checking him for pneumonia. This morning Lana called stating his calcium was back up and they were going to restart the Accutane. His temp was down a little but has to be below 100.5 for 24 hours before they will discharge him also his blood cultures must be negative. She did not know what the chest x-ray showed yet. The nurses told her his lungs sounded clear.

Please keep Lucas in your prayers.

September 6th, 2000 (by Anna Lou)

Lucas had all of his scans done last week. Today went to the doctor for the results. Was told all of the scans came out negative for any new tumors. There was a mass in the upper chest that was found but the doctor said this is something "normal" after chemo and they were not concerned.  Something about the thymus. Lana did not get a copy of this report. She was told they would do a CT of the chest every 6 months just to follow up with the "mass".

He will start the oral chemo today when the prescription is filled. He finally learned how to swallow pills last week. 

Please continue to pray that this "mass" is really nothing to worry about. We know God will do the right thing for Lucas.

Love to all and thanks again for all of your concerns, prayers, gifts of many different kinds. I will try to continue to keep all updated as things progress with Lucas'
condition. They will be moving into an apartment the 7th of October.

Week of July 24th, 2000

Just wanted to let all know how well Lucas is doing at this time. He went today to the clinic for some blood work. His hemoglobin is higher than it was before they discovered he had cancer. It was 12 and the Hematocrit was 35, platelets 150, white blood count 3.1 which is still low, but coming up each week. He still will start the oral chemo in September and will most likely cause his blood work to drop again. But for now he is full of energy.

Will continue to keep all informed of his progress.

Week of July 15th 2000

Lucas went to the clinic at St Joseph's Children's Hospital on Friday.  They removed the central line in his upper chest wall that was used at Shand's in Gainesville for his chemo and stem cell transplant. He cannot get the area wet until it scabs over and the scab falls off. He still has the port that was placed back in December that can be used if necessary for blood draws or to receive blood if needed. He is doing great at present, playing as if nothing is wrong. 

The plan is for him to start oral chemo in September, not sure how long he will have to take it or what the side effects will be from it. We do know that he is still not out of the "woods" yet, but think his cancer is in remission. We pray that this will continue. He must wear a mask for next 3 months when he is around more than 5 people and cannot be around anyone that has recently had childhood shots. He will have to have all of his childhood shots repeated after about 1 year if all goes well with his health.

Please continue to pray for him, Lana, and Kevin. They still need all of the support, prayers, and love that can come their way. They are still living with us and will for some time as it looks at present.

Week of July 8th, 2000

Today is the happiest day of the Lucas Shearer family. He came back to Tampa today at about 12 noon. He is full of energy. Running and playing having a wonderful time. Still has the central line for blood draws and or fluids if needed instead of using his port. Goes to the doctor at the Children's Hospital here in Tampa on Wednesday and we are hoping that they will take the central line out after doing his labs, that is if his lab work is stable. Please continue to pray for him that the things that have been done by our heavenly father will continue, for if it had not been for him the doctors would not have been able to treat Lucas successfully as they have done.

There will be some updated pictures on his web site later. One especially of a ceiling tile he painted with a train on it with the help of his mother and dad. It is precious. " The little engine that could" is the title on it. Hopefully they will put it in the hall way where visitors and other patients can see it.

Will go for now. Will continue to keep all posted in any changes for the better.

Week of June 26th, 2000 

Thursday  -  Well the day has finally gotten here. Lucas was discharged from the
hospital today and now living in Gainesville in a trailer park for about the next 2-3 weeks. He has done so well that the doctors are amazed.  They can't believe how well he has done. But we know who did the work in getting Lucas back to almost normal, it was the good father above who takes care of us when we do his will. The many prayers in his behalf are being answered. He will have to have home schooling for 3 months before he can attend public schooling. Will need to wear a mask for the next 3 months when in a crowd of more than 5 persons. Kevin said that he is slowly getting his appetite back. Will continue to keep all informed with his progress.

Wednesday  -  Hello everyone just writing to let everyone know that Luke is doing very
good and that the doctors are expecting him to go home tomorrow . but the thing is when I say home I mean we will be living in Gainesville for at least 2 weeks. the doctor told me that if everything goes good that we  might only be here for 1 week.

Tuesday  -  Hello Everyone, Just want to let you know that Luke is scheduled for probable discharge from the hospital on Thursday! I am so amazed at how fast he's recovering. So are his doctors and nurses. They attribute his rapid recovery to the number of stem cells he received, which I'm sure is the major reason, but as C.B., (Luke's favorite P.A.) said, "Praise the Lord for all those stem cells!" He ate a baked potato last night--started licking his lips when I told him what I'd brought him. He lost it about 30 minutes later when he started coughing. The cough has been going on for the last few days; however, now that he's off all his antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and, whatever else he had been taking, the cough has gone away. The baked potato episode was the last cough I heard from him. He slept  quietly all night--usually, when the nurse would come and change him during the night, he would wake up and cough for about 15-20 minutes before he would go back to sleep. Dr. Graham-Pole just came in and told me Luke is doing so well that he's going to stop the G-CSF (since his white count is over 8000 today!) That was the last medication he was on. It's the one that he used to get "shot in the leg" with after every course of chemo. to help his white count recover--only he's been getting it intravenously up here, right through his central line. No more "shots" when he goes home this time! We're working on a ceiling tile to leave Luke's mark that he's been here. The "Arts in Medicine" program here is wonderful. Every patient gets a blank ceiling tile to paint anything he wants on it. When you walk through the halls here on the bone marrow unit, there are no plain white boring ceilings--there is art everywhere--it's beautiful! (And it's a great way to get people to look up :<)

Monday  -  "Luke's white count is 4.3 and ANC is 2666! He went to sleep early yesterday evening before dark and hardly moved until 8 AM . He's drinking some apple juice and watching PB&J Otter. His weight is back up tp 65 lbs. ( It was as low as 60 lbs. at one point.)  This is the second time Luke has had a life threatening illness and has been carried through. He has a long road ahead of him in terms of follow-up and achieving his optimum state of health. He has to have all his vaccinations again and those won't even be able to be started for a long time. He'll have homebound schooling for maybe six months, until he's cleared by his doctors to return to school. He'll have to wear a mask in public places for a long while also. At least now he's able to have fresh fruit and vegetables again:) Got to go now; Luke wants to go for a walk. Will write more later."

Week of June 18th, 2000 

This is from an e-mail from Kevin and Lana Sunday morning.  

"HELLO EVERYONE, JUST WRITING TO LET YOU KNOW HOW LUKE IS THIS MORNING. HE WOKE UP AROUND 10:00 A.M. THROWING UP. THE ONLY PROBLEM IS HE HAD NOTHING IN HIS STOMACH. HE HASN'T BEEN  ABLE TO EAT BECAUSE OF THE SORES IN HIS MOUTH FROM THE CHEMO.  AS OF THIS MORNING, HIS ANC IS 20 AND THE DOCTOR SAID THAT BY TOMORROW IT WILL BE DOWN TO 0, THEN SHOULD START COMING UP IN ABOUT 2 OR 3 WEEKS . HE IS REALLY ANXIOUS TO GET OUT  BECAUSE HIS GRANDMA & GRANDPA BOUGHT HIM A REMOTE CONTROL MOTORCYCLE TO PLAY WITH .  TODAY THE DOCTORS ARE PLANNING ON PUTTING HIM ON ONLY SOFT FOODS LIKE JELLO, APPLESAUCE, COTTAGE CHEESE, POPSICLES, & PUDDING. AS OF YESTERDAY LUKE HAD LOST 3 POUNDS IN 1 DAY AND IS EXPECTED TO LOSE MORE BEFORE IT IS OVER WITH ."

Week of June 12th, 2000

Luke has had a pretty good week so far.  He has been sick throwing up off and on from the chemo. But they have medication they are giving him that seems to work pretty good.  Don and Anna Lou were able to go up Wednesday.  Luke was doing really good and able to have a great visit with them.  That also allowed Kevin and Lana to get out and take care of a few things also.  On Thursday they did start the Stem Cell transplant.  Here is part of an e-mail from Kevin....."Hello everyone.  Just thought I would let everyone know that Luke had his first transplant today at 11:00 AM.  We were told that there was a chance that he might get sick after the first few minutes but he proved them all wrong.  He is doing very good.  The doctors and staff here call today day 0.  For Luke's it is now 12:50 and Luke is sound asleep I think the transplant wore him out instead of making him sick which is a good thing.  Luke also had a good lunch.  He ate 2 orders of chicken nuggets from Wendys around 10:30 this morning. Also tomorrow will be Luke's final transplant . They said that it takes around 2 weeks to know if the transplant takes, so we are praying harder every day that it takes and there are no problems that will cause a set back if things keep going the way that they are.  I really don't see any problems arising."  

I will try to post updates from Kevin as we get them or as we go to visit.

Week of June 5th, 2000 

The radiation is complete and Lucas did great.  Now, as of Today, Thursday June 8th, Luke as been admitted to the hospital in Gainesville for the 5 to 7 days of very hard/strong chemo.  Immediately following, he will be given the stem cells back which were harvested previously.  This whole procedure will wipe out his immune system and will be an extremely serious and rough time.  He will be in the hospital for 4 to 6 six weeks trying to get him built back up.  Following his release, he will need to stay in Gainesville in a trailer that is sterile.  Needless to say, the prayers of all are requested on his behalf, as well as on the behalf of his parents.  Kevin will be able to be there this first week.  After that, we will all try to take turns being there when Lana needs us to be.  I'll try to post updates each week and try to get some pictures as well.

Week of May 15

Luke headed back to Gainesville for his first week of radiation to begin on Thursday.  He was able to spend the first few days enjoying the zoo, riding a bus, and going to different attractions.  His scans from last week did come back great!  Nothing showed up on the scans which was good news meaning things were right on track.

UPDATE BY ANNA LOU ON THURSDAY  :   Just talked with Lana, said had to be at the hospital today at noon to complete the marking for the radiation therapy. Then at 2PM they started the radiation. The doctors told her that he should not get sick from this. So they had not eaten anything, went to the hospital food court while standing in line for their food he became nauseated. Went to the bathroom where he vomited. Went back to get food as he still wanted to eat. Only took a few bites of his food. Prior to going to the food court she had put in a prescription for Tigan just in case he did get sick. Went to the outpatient pharmacy waited about 30 min before she could talk with someone there, then found out the pharmacy did not carry the medicine. Was told she would have to wait until they could get it. By this time they had already made several dashing trips to the bathroom for Luke to vomit. She then told them they needed to call the doctors to get something they did carry. This took an hour. While they were waiting they doctors that are doing his radiation therapy came by stopped to talk with them. Luke again had to make a dashing trip to the bathroom, was  in there for about 15 min. when they came out the doctors were waiting for them. By now he had vomited a total of 6 times while waiting for his medicine.

They were in their room at the Ronald McDonald House Luke still not feeling very good. He will go back to the hospital at 8AM for another treatment and again at 2PM. They are hoping to come home tomorrow night if he is able.

Will talk to you later. Continue to pray for LUCAS, and his parents.

Week of May 8th

Kevin and Lana headed to Gainesville on Monday with Lucas.  They had an 8:00 appointment Tuesday to begin all the tests and different appointments with doctors.  There will be CAT scans again, along with all the usual tests. Hopefully, they will be able to come home for the weekend before the radiation begins on Monday.  (When staying in the McDonald House you have to "rotate" in and out so they might not be able to come home if it means they take a chance of losing their room.)  

When we hear from them, will try to post how they are doing and any new news.  If nothing is posted, assume all is well and proceeding as planned.

Please remember this starts the very crucial part of his treatment and very unknown territory for all of us.  Please remember Kevin and Lana in your prayers as this will be extremely difficult on them.  Not only because of the treatments, but because of the 2 hour separation from family members   Kevin will not be able to spend the whole time there, because of needing to continue working, so this will not be an easy time.

Week of April 24th

UPDATE by Anna Lou:  At this writing Lucas is scheduled to go to Shand's Hospital in Gainesville the week of May 8 for 3 days of extensive physical examinations, including CT Scans of whole body, abdomen, and blood work. After this is completed he then will start the 2 weeks of outpatient radiation therapy. If is feels up to it during this time they can come home on the week ends. After the radiation therapy is completed he then will come home for a weeks rest before being admitted for the HIGH doses chemo and STEM CELL transplant.

UPDATE

Lucas came home on Monday and is doing really well.  For having had major surgery he is a real trouper.  Next will be a consultation at Shands Hospital, tentatively the week of May 8th.   It will be for three days and then probably right into radiation.  They did receive the lab results and it has indicated that the tumor sample contained dead cells, which is great news.

Will update as the schedule is confirmed and we know more of the details.

Week of April 17th

UPDATE: (Tuesday, 18th by Anna Lou) 

Just got home from the hospital it is now 6:35P.M., Lucas got back to his room at about 5:15 or so from surgery today. The doctor talked with us after the surgery at 4:00P.M. told us that she was able to remove all of the tumor that was sitting on the liver and the diaphragm. It was petrified But there was another tumor shaped like a crescent around the aorta and renal artery. She was unable to remove it afraid of doing damage to the artery or aorta. She did take some scrapings of it to send to the lab to make sure whether there were any live cells present. She was pretty sure that there were no live cells in it as it also had the appearance of being petrified.

Luke has a nasal gastric tube into his stomach connected to suction. He was awake but whining when we left wanting a drink. His incision is slightly longer than the first one. We are pleased with the findings and are pretty sure that the chemo did what it was supposed to do and will have the radiation therapy to make sure.

Please keep LUCAS, Lana, and Kevin in your prayers. He still has a long road to take after about 2 weeks of recovery which will be expensive and tiring on all.

Will continue to keep all updated with his progress.

Week of April 10th

UPDATE: (Tuesday, 11th by Anna Lou) 

Step #1 We found out just now that Lucas is scheduled for surgery Tuesday the 18th of April for removal of the tumor that is left. It was explained that the tumor had not invaded the liver, was just sitting there. The surgeon will "scrape" as much of the tumor as possible for removal. 

Step #2 After about 2 weeks of recovery from the surgery he will then go to Shand's Hospital in Gainesville as an outpatient for 2 weeks of radiation to the tumor site. He and Lana will stay at the McDonald House.

Step#3 Immediately after the radiation is completed he will then be admitted into Shand's for "High Doses" chemo for approximately 7-8 days.

Step #4 After completion of the chemo then the "stem cell transplantation will then take place. This is when he will be in the hospital for about 1 month.

Step#5 After discharge from Shand's Hospital the social worker will find a place for Lucas and Lana to stay for about 2-3 weeks meaning that they will not be back in Tampa until about the middle of July.

Please continue to keep Lucas, Lana, and Kevin in your prayers. This is going to be very hard on them to be gone for so long. Kevin will continue to try to work as much as possible.

UPDATE: (by Anna Lou, Monday) The doctor called Friday afternoon telling Lana that the CT scans were back and the tumor is touching the liver and diaphragm. That surgery was not indicated at this time. Today the doctor called her back told her he talked with the surgeon and she thinks that surgery will be the only thing to do at this point then follow up with chemo. We are not sure just what all of this means. As one of the doctors told us in the beginning that surgery would not be done until the tumor was shrunk and not touching any organs, as chemo would not "melt" the rest of the tumor away. Lana was told today that the tumor is about 2 cm but long. Did not tell her how long it was, and that if surgery was done they would remove what they could and that chemo would "melt" the rest away which is totally different than what another doctor told us. Lucas has an appointment tomorrow and she hopes to talk with them more and hopefully get a better understanding on what is going on.

Week of April 3rd

UPDATE!!!! (Friday, April 7th)  Today Lana talked with the Doctor concerning the CAT scan.  The doctor indicated that the tumor has shrunk.  But, unfortunately, they don't know yet if they will be able to surgically remove the tumor.  It appears that it is attached to the liver and the diaphragm.  The doctor also indicated there is a spot in his pelvic area, an enlarged lymph node, which might also need chemo.  The surgeon will review the scans on Monday to determine what is to be done.  This of course was not the expected news.  We were hopeful that the surgery would be scheduled and to keep on schedule.  But instead, this may of course mean more chemo before they can try to remove it.  Needless to say, the prayers of everyone are needed to help Lucas overcome this hurdle. 

Monday Lucas received platelets and blood.  This was expected due to his numbers dropping from the last round of chemo.  He then had another bone marrow test.  On Tuesday, they will redo all the CAT scans to evaluate where he stands with the tumor.  At that point surgery will be scheduled.  We don't know yet how quickly all this could happen.  Please check back often for updates.

Week of March 20th (Week 12 - Last week of chemo prior to surgery)

Scheduled for week of Chemo.

UPDATE: All went well this week for Lucas. In fact, better than expected. There was a problem with his port on Thursday which made it a rough and painful day, but Luke endured. He was able to go home Saturday morning and was able to get out and ride his bike, the first time since November. Now they will wait approximately 2 weeks to redo the scans. At that time, they will evaluate where he stands and what the next step will be. We believe that will be surgery.

On a personal note: Having arrived at the hospital on Thursday and witnessed the torment that Lucas was put through, I just wanted to say that we should all remember to pray for Kevin and Lana. It was rough enough to see Luke in such pain, when he wasn't my child. Please don't forget they they too need our love, support, and prayers to help them endure through these treatments.

Week of March 13th - Stem Cell Harvesting (What is Stem Cell Harvesting? http://www.highdose.com/)

UPDATE: (March 17th by Anna Lou) - Wednesday when we went into the clinic was told they obtained about 1.2 million stem cells on Tuesday. The collection started again taking almost 3 hours. This am went in to get the results. Everyone was very surprised, the collection on Wednesday netted 6 million and 500 stem cells. This is a rare event for anyone to do this. We believe the prayers and Gods working hands had a lot to do with this. His catheter was removed after several screams from Luke and the patience of the P.A. named Charles Baker and a nurse Kathy Williams. Had to then go to the McDonald House and clean the room. After room check headed home. Got here about 4:15pm. Everyone is very tired and ready to get back home. Luke returns to St.Joseph's Childrens hospital on Monday for final 6 days of chemo. If all goes well after the chemo he will be scheduled for the surgery to remove the primary site then radiation to the site followed with the stem cell transplant.

UPDATE: (March 16th) - Luke is still in Gainesville. On Tuesday they began harvesting but were only able to get about 1/2 of the stem cells needed (which I believe is 5 million). Wednesday they did another round of harvesting and will find out Thursday if that is it or another round is needed. Luke is doing well though and seems to be handling this real well.

UPDATE: Luke is still in Gainesville. His numbers dropped extremely low. On Monday he was given platelets. His platelets were so low that if he had gotten hurt it would have been extremely life threatening. They did move forward with putting in the port needed to get started with the harvesting. Hopefully, if all goes as planned, on Tuesday morning they will check his numbers. If necessary they will give him blood and then if all goes well, try to begin harvesting the stem cells around 10:30. Hopefully they will be able to harvest what is needed for the transplant. If so, he will be able to head home on Wednesday. If not, he will have to stay.

Week of March 6th

UPDATE: March 6th - Luke's numbers were not right to go to Gainesville. It was delayed until his numbers drop.

UPDATE: March 9th - (Update by Anna Lou)- Donald and I just got home from Gainesville. We took Luke,Kevin, Lana to Shands Hospital this am. They drew blood to check his platelets,cbc, and a part of the white count called the "ANC". They attempted to draw blood for type and cross but that blood clotted before it got to the lab. They tried again but could not get a blood return from his port. Talked with the x ray dept for placement of the line for the withdrawal of the "stem cells", and the anesthesiologist. this took all day. Seemed that we were in the "hurry up and wait mode". We were the only ones wanting to get things over with. Then tonight at 5:45 we were told they could not do the stem cell harvesting due to his "ANC" count being too low (in the100's) which is not good at all.They wanted them to stay there anyway over the week end in case the counts started back up like they should then this is the perfect time to harvest the stem cells. They are without a car so I will be going back up there tomorrow and staying until they are ready to come home as the buses do not run on the week end. They are at the Ronald McDonald house about 2 blocks from the hospital. I will have to stay in a motel as they will not let me stay with them.

UPDATE: March 10th. - Anna Lou was not able to go but will be going up today (Saturday) to stay as long as needed. Lucas' numbers are starting to go back up so the stem cell harvest is scheduled to begin on Monday. Lucas has been running a fever so hopefully they will get that under control.

February 28th (Week 9)

Scheduled for 3+ days of chemo in the hospital. UPDATE: Everything went extremely well for Luke's week in the hospital. He took the chemo a lot better than expected. He was able to leave the hospital Thursday as scheduled. He is home and doing VERY well. His numbers are dropping a bit, but that is expected at this point. Hopefully on Monday, March 6th, he will be heading to Gainesville to begin the harvesting of his stem cells.

February 7th through February 11, 2000 - (Week 7)

He is to be admitted to the hospital for a full week of Chemo. UPDATE: Lucas did fairly well for the first part of the week. But later in the week his hemoglobin dropped and his cough turned into bronchitis. He was not able to leave the hospital due to his temperature not staying down. This is Monday, February 14th and as of 4:15 his temperature was 101.7. He is due to go to Shands Hospital tomorrow for his day of evaluation for the transplant, but it is uncertain as to whether or not he can go. The doctors want his temperature down to 100.5 for 8 hours before authorizing his leaving the hospital to make the trip.UPDATE: This is Wednesday the 16th. Lucas is still in the hospital trying to get his temperature down. His trip to Shands was cancelled for Tuesday, but they are going to try again tomorrow to get him out of the hospital and up there. Will keep you posted.

January 31st, 2000 - (Week 6)

He is scheduled for his blood work and a Chemo "push" treatment. They will also be doing the various scans to see the status of the tumor. UPDATE: His blood work was great and he didn't have to have shots through the week. The scans indicated that the tumor HAS shrunk which is GREAT news!!! Lucas had a good week and was allowed to be out and attend services Wednesday evening. Considering next week is a full week of chemo, it was good to see him be able to enjoy this week.

January 27th, 2000 - (Week 5)

His blood work was even lower so they did a blood transfusion (Hemoglobin was 5). This really helped and he was feeling better on Friday.

January 24th, 2000 - (Week 5)

Lucas had blood work and a Chemo "push" treatment. His blood work was low so they scheduled him for additional blood work on Thursday the 27th for a possible blood transfusion. Between Monday and Thursday he was not doing to good, and was even running a fever.

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