Freddie was scheduled to be admitted to Children’s from September 10-15 to receive his fifth and final cycle of post-consolidation immunotherapy. In typical Freddie-fashion, he decided to spend a little extra time with his friends on the 12th floor…
He spiked a fever the evening of September 4th, so we ventured back to the Children’s ER for evaluation. Turns out, he had yet another bacterial infection in his blood. Back to back months, Freddie was growing Pseudomonas from his blood; in August, he grew Pseudomonas fluorescens, and this time he grew Pseudomonas putida. We remained inpatient for the next 11 days while he received antibiotics for the infection and then his regularly-scheduled immunotherapy.
Freddie rocked his infusions, making sure to take plenty of playroom breaks and visits to the nurse’s station. Given his significant history of bacteremia infections (I’ve lost count at this point but I think he has had 8 in total?), our team opted to pull his central line after his last dinutuximab infusion. The original plan was to keep it in place for the first round of re-staging scans in November, but we can’t seem to go more than a month without a blood stream infection, which is more difficult to clear with a foreign body in place (the central line itself). That being said, the line was removed on September 15 and he was discharged home with 5 more days of oral antibiotics!
Since being home, Freddie has LOVED taking baths without Press n Seal covering his central line dressing, playing with his dogs, building forts with his sister, and running next door to grandma and grandpa’s any chance he gets. He has one more cycle of Accutane left, then he will undergo re-staging yet again. CT scans, an MIBG scan, a bone marrow biopsy, an audiogram, and an echocardiogram await the Fredster, but he takes it all in stride. He continues to the the happiest, goofiest, most affectionate peanut. As always, thanks for your unfailing support of our favorite little guy!!
Love,
The Reichards
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