Hi All,
We hope everyone has enjoyed the Thanksgiving day. Nick woke up with a slight fever yesterday and we kept him home from school. He was very disappointed about not being able to ride the bus home from school with Colby. He is half day and always rides the bus home by himself. I took him to clinic to make sure his counts were okay. He had dropped about 20% in his white blood cells, but his APC was 7,300. They gave him an antibiotic drip that lasts for about 24 hours. The doctor mentioned if he spikes a fever again today after 1pm to bring him into the ER. Auntie Lisa hosted the Thanksgiving feast and Nick was so excited to go there today, that we actually showed up early. He was good all day. A little on and off with his energy. By 5pm, (after checking his temp a couple of times) we thought he had a fever, 101.1. Greg took him to the ER and the temp was at 97.9, normal. I think all that resting and under 2 blankets made him really hot. His cough was rough and the ER did a chest ex ray. Everything came out okay. His white blood cells did drop to 4.3, over 50% from yesterday. His body is definitely fighting something and we are lucky that his counts were high on Monday, because they are dropping. We plan on relaxing this weekend with the kids and taking it easy. Nick really wants to do so much, but when he gets sick, he feels so tired, so we maintain. I mentioned before, that at this time last year, we just came home from the hospital after a 9 day stay. We begged the doctor to let Nick come home, at that time, for Thanksgiving and were given strick orders to keep him in and under lock down. (Nick's ANC was 250 at the time, very low) Charlie (papa, Greg's dad), gave a speech today at dinner and mentioned about Nick being able to be here today. The dinner tonight really makes the family come together. We miss Tim & Anne from Maine and think about you and family all the time.
Greg & I both thought he would end up at the hospital tonight, but it is okay. We were able to be with family tonight and Nick had a great time. Lisa & Jack did a great job with dinner. Colby decided at the last minute to spend the night with Mitchel..... I guess he thinks they still have battles to settle. I can not say enough about how much family means to us today.
Greg and Nick are pulling into the garage and I am signing off to give more big hugs to our brave boy. 3 port accesses in 4 days. We are looking forward to a quiet weekend. I really do not think that will happen because the boys love being social and think the parents are so boring.... Take care. Love, Karen
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Clinic Today & Tom
Hello All,
As we head into a long weekend and giving thanks, we would like to say thank you to all of you and everyone who has been there for our family. About 2 months ago Thomas had his 15 month check up. The doctor detected a heart murmur in him. His blood work also came back a little anemic. I think this is what happens when a child decides to not eat green vegetables. We have tried everything and he just does not like it. How can you not like green beans with butter & salt. Dr. M. decided to schedule Tom for a visit with the cardiologist. The appointment was today.
Tom was due for another round of blood work and Nick for chemo. We (Greg & I) took both the boys to clinic. Debbie does a great job of drawing blood for the kids and Tom did not even cry until the needle was pulled out. He is such a trooper. Tom & I then headed over to the Pediatric Heart building.
I can tell you that Greg & I did not really prepare ourselves for this day and we did not talk about it a lot. As I was leaving Nick & Greg the tears started to come to my eyes, but I really believed everything would be okay. We have been through this and we can handle the visit. Tom had an EKG done and then I met with the doctor. Tom was great through everything and babbled away while eating goldfish. The doctor said everything checked out fine and he is okay. It was a relief, but for some reason, I knew he was going to be okay. You can definitely say, we were much more relaxed about the visit than before everything has happened with Nick. I can not explain it and even seeing Tom with the stickers and cords hooked up to him through the whole process, I was calm. You know, it has to be done and it did not hurt him, that is what matters (no pain, we have seen a lot of that through Nick). We will take him back when he is 3, just to make sure everything is good.
Tom & I went back to clinic to pick Greg & Nick up. Nick's counts were great. A little surprising:
WBC: 10.5
RBC: 11.2
Plts: 309
APC: 8,700
Neutrophil: 72% (the neutrophils are the percentage of the mature white blood cells to the immature white blood cells, the higher the percentage means he is producing more mature white blood cells..... not cancer cells)
We are looking forward to a few days off and Nick being off steroids for the Holiday weekend. We have to get creative because are greatful for 3 VERY active boys.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING and give extra hugs to the people around you and the ones who you are fortunate to see this week. Enjoy the day and take care. Karen
As we head into a long weekend and giving thanks, we would like to say thank you to all of you and everyone who has been there for our family. About 2 months ago Thomas had his 15 month check up. The doctor detected a heart murmur in him. His blood work also came back a little anemic. I think this is what happens when a child decides to not eat green vegetables. We have tried everything and he just does not like it. How can you not like green beans with butter & salt. Dr. M. decided to schedule Tom for a visit with the cardiologist. The appointment was today.
Tom was due for another round of blood work and Nick for chemo. We (Greg & I) took both the boys to clinic. Debbie does a great job of drawing blood for the kids and Tom did not even cry until the needle was pulled out. He is such a trooper. Tom & I then headed over to the Pediatric Heart building.
I can tell you that Greg & I did not really prepare ourselves for this day and we did not talk about it a lot. As I was leaving Nick & Greg the tears started to come to my eyes, but I really believed everything would be okay. We have been through this and we can handle the visit. Tom had an EKG done and then I met with the doctor. Tom was great through everything and babbled away while eating goldfish. The doctor said everything checked out fine and he is okay. It was a relief, but for some reason, I knew he was going to be okay. You can definitely say, we were much more relaxed about the visit than before everything has happened with Nick. I can not explain it and even seeing Tom with the stickers and cords hooked up to him through the whole process, I was calm. You know, it has to be done and it did not hurt him, that is what matters (no pain, we have seen a lot of that through Nick). We will take him back when he is 3, just to make sure everything is good.
Tom & I went back to clinic to pick Greg & Nick up. Nick's counts were great. A little surprising:
WBC: 10.5
RBC: 11.2
Plts: 309
APC: 8,700
Neutrophil: 72% (the neutrophils are the percentage of the mature white blood cells to the immature white blood cells, the higher the percentage means he is producing more mature white blood cells..... not cancer cells)
We are looking forward to a few days off and Nick being off steroids for the Holiday weekend. We have to get creative because are greatful for 3 VERY active boys.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING and give extra hugs to the people around you and the ones who you are fortunate to see this week. Enjoy the day and take care. Karen
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