CBC from Yesterday

We got Logan's test results from yesterday... Hemoglobin is still a little low. White Blood Cells are good as are Platelets. He now only needs to go in once a week for routine CBC's.

Enjoying transition to "Normal"

We had a wonderful visit with family back in Kansas City, although the weather cut our last visit a bit short. We had a spectacular Christmas Day.

Logan continues to do well and we are adjusting back to normal while enjoying our vacation. There is a long list of things that we have not been doing lately, and we will start checking them off our list this week. Tomorrow, we are going to go bowling. It will be a blast!

Bye, Bye Wesley...

We hope to never see you again... nothing personal!

Logan's body has been working over time making white blood cells like CRAZY. His counts jumped from .8 yesterday to 6.2 this morning. When I saw the print out I couldn't believe it. I even double checked that this was from my son!

He is officially no longer neutropenic, his fever is gone, and he's feeling GREAT! It looks like that Neulasta drug helped us out after all. They are working on our walking papers as I type so we may even be home for lunch!

Merry Christmas to all, and to us, a good night sleep! : )

Cross Your Fingers

Logan is feeling good this morning. His counts took a nice big jump from yesterday with white blood cells up to .8 (quadrupled!) and hemoglobin up to 9.5. No fevers since last night so if he can stay fever free until tomorrow, be will be going home! Keep those fingers crossed for us!

Yesterday, Eric brought the fixing for a graham cracker "gingerbread" house. I brought my camera to the hospital today to share our creation with you. This is the before shot of our beautiful house.

Then Logan wanted to eat the house...

Then he destroyed the cute little creation! See, I told you he's feeling better! : )

Occasional clinical febrility

... or in other words, Logan is still spiking fevers. He still generally feels well and has just begun to produce neutrophils. His WBC remains very low at 0.2, so 8% neutrophils still rounds to 0.0. His fever is better today than yesterday, but 100.5 is a pretty low bar to limbo. With a bit of luck, his counts will start to climb in the next couple of days. Historically, once he has a measurable neutrophil count, the fever breaks. We then usually sit around the hospital for 48 hours waiting for release.

Neutropenic fever

Cultures are all negative, so we continue on standard protocol. He is still feverish today, so we are still waiting for the clock to start for our departure from the hospital. We are anxiously awaiting the point that his WBC starts to climb again. History has shown us that his fever breaks once he has a measurable neutrophil count. We remain at a "perfect" 0.0 today.

Thanks to all the family that has offered help. We took advantage of some of the offers this time, and Amanda is now in good hands in Kansas City. Amanda is going to do the rounds with the cousins while we are in the hospital, which is absolutely wonderful. Thank you all!!!

House divided

Logan's fever spiked at home, so we are sleeping at Wesley tonight. I (dad) took him in while Mom and Amanda slept at home. His fever hit 103.0 after admission, so we are officially experiencing neutropenic fever. There are not really any symptoms other than the types of things that a little boy feels when he is running a fever. We are on the standard protocol of antibiotics and Tylenol. His fever seems to be under control, which is a good sign. We will find out more details as test results come back tomorrow.
I called Wesley prior to our departure from home to make sure that a room was available, and we were welcomed with a well-furnished room upon arrival. We had a cot with bedding, extra pillows, and an extra chair for visitors. They even had masks/gloves/sanitary wipes on the door, so we were settled quickly. Apparently, the nursing staff had a feeling that I would be with Logan upon arrival and really put forth an effort to make us both comfortable. Admission was also a breeze, so I assume they could tell that I was in no mood to confirm that we had not moved/changed insurance/employers/phone numbers/gotten married in the 24-hours since our last visit. Yup, I am pretty sure that I am one of "those" dads that the hospital staff curses about behind closed doors. Heck, I might even be "THAT" dad.

100.0

Logan is starting to feel bad. Current fever is 100.0. Eric has their bags packed and ready to go if he hits the magic number. We're pushing the fluids and encouraging lost of rest. Hopefully he pulls out of this without another hospital trip, but I doubt it.

Sleeping In Our Own Beds

Logan and Eric were able to sleep in their own beds last night! They got home around 11:00 last night... just another quick 12 HOUR trip to the hospital!!! I was able to bring Amanda home with me around 7:00. They were both troopers for us. I had planned on having lunch up there, so we packed a picnic, but for dinner Eric was able to bring us some pizza (per Logan's request. Do you think he might me slightly spoiled right now? : ). Amanda was lounging on the chair, eating her slice of pie when for some reason, decided to take a little nap, using her piece for a pillow!!! ; ) I'm sure it wasn't on purpose, but very funny still!

Add Some Blood Too

Logan's platelets are done but the CBC came back that he needs blood too so looks like Logan will be here for 4 to 5 hours more. White blood cells are at .3, but they are all lymphocytes (the "other" white blood cell) so he there is a very good chance that he will start running his usual neutropenic fever and he'll be admitted. We'll keep you all posted as things develop.

Bleeding

This morning Logan starting bleeding so we're currently at Wesley hospital waiting for a platelet transfusion. They've pulled a blood sample and when the results come back I'll post them. I have NO idea what's taking the platelets so long, but as soon as they are started, it's just a one hour infusion. If he needs blood that will add 3 hours to our stay, and I've been told that he will also need fluids (per Dr. Rosen's request) so add another hour on top of that. Thankfully I remembered to bring his antibiotics with us this time so we don't have to waste time waiting for pharmacy to make up a batch for him. Hurry to the hospital and wait for 3 hours before ANYTHING HAPPENS!!! UGH!

Logan's Latest Numbers

WBC - .3 (still dropping)
HGB - 8.4 (good enough)
Platelets - 19 (bleeding not an issue)

We go back for labs on Thursday. Once Logan's white blood cells start to go back up we should be out of the woods for the dreaded neutropenic fever.

Giving Thanks

Logan is feeling much better this week compared to last. His transfusions on Saturday have really perked him up and he is back to his old, ornery self. The antibiotics are taking care of his infection and he seems to be getting use to his new PICC line. We are heading back to the the doctor this afternoon for yet another CBC. We'll post the results of that tomorrow.

I would like to send a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to my mom Fran and Eric's mom Gayle for dropping everything last week to drive to Wichita to help us out. Words can not express how grateful we were for your help. Amanda in a hospital room is like a tornado in a trailer park. Having the two of you here allowed both Eric and me to be there to support and comfort our son during a scary procedure. I know it may not seem like much to you, but I meant a lot to us all. Thanks so much!

Quick outpatient procedure

Logan now has a PICC line; the procedure went fairly well. It seems that he has his mom's vein structure, as it took several tries to get the line started again today. Logan's last CBC was Sunday at the ER, so the hospital ran one and found he needed platelets and red blood cells. Transfusions are not a quick process, so we spent from 8:00AM to 7:40 PM in the PICU (the only place they do sedation on the weekend).
We also discovered that the infection found in Logan's Hickman is pretty easy to treat with antibiotics, and has had no symptoms of infection since it was removed. It looks like we avoided any serious complications resulting from his line infection.

Logan still has a few neutrophils, so we remain optimistic that the Neupogen kicks in soon and keeps us away from the dreaded Neutropenic Fever.
We are relaxing at home tonight, and we are thankful. We are also very glad that Fran made the trip down to take care of Amanda while we were at the hospital today. Thanks, Fran!!!

Back From The Hospital

It was a long day for us, with the doctor being delayed 2 hours while we twiddled our thumbs, but we're home now and Logan is resting with some Scooby toons. It took the nurse three tries (and three different needles!) to find a good vein, but he how has his temporary heparin lock iv in his hand and the Hickman Catheter (AKA tubies) is no more. We are scheduled to go back to Wesley on Saturday morning for his PICC line. It will be inserted at the elbow crease and threaded up his vein, across his shoulder and down his chest a ways. He is responding to the new antibiotics well so hopefully we can knock this infection out soon.

Hair, Drugs, and ROCK 'N ROLL

We're just back from the doctors and I wanted to give you all an update on how things are going to go for us for the next few days. Tonight, Eric's mom, Gayle, is coming into town to help us with Amanda tomorrow morning while Eric and I take Logan to the hospital. We'll be there at 7 a.m. with his surgery scheduled for 8:30. Later that afternoon, it's back to doctor again for another shot. Logan is back on the iv antibiotic, Vancomycin, every 8 hours for the next 10 days. He'll get two days recovery time for his bacterial infection before we head back to the hospital on Saturday for his PICC line placement. The bacterial infection that has been festering in his white line is really throwing him for a loop. He hasn't been feeling like himself at all this week. Hopefully the Vancomycin will knock out the infection better than the other antibiotic he's been on. Eric and I got our new instructions today for this temporary heparin lock (iv) and the PICC line. You almost need a degree in medicine to keep up with all this!!!

In other news, check out some updated photos of Logan's new hair (and his really cute sister! : ). It's still very thin, but the baby fuzz is getting darker now to the point that people just think he has a military hair cut rather than cancer. Hopefully it will fill in enough to warm his little head this winter because I have a heck of a time getting him to wear a hat!

Bye, Bye Tubies

Logan's central line (AKA tubies) infection is become worse so he'll go in for surgery on Thursday to have it removed. He'll have an iv in his hand for a few days to administer antibiotics while his body fights off the infection, then he'll go back to the hospital to have a temporary PICC line placed in his arm. It's been a roller coaster in the Neal house for the last 3 days with him feeling fine until we use the white port, then chills, high fever and nausea for about 4 hours afterwards. So we've now abandoned the white line and will only use the red port to finish out his last round of chemo. ALMOST THERE!!!!

Y'all Come Bacteria Party

One of Logan's central lines has been colonized by bacteria. This is the same bacteria infection that he had from the last round of chemo so 14 days of antibiotics didn't eliminate it, just suppressed it. Because he's almost finished with chemo, we're going to put him back on antibiotics and hope to suppress the bacteria again, then remove the central line in about 2 or 3 weeks. If his fever comes back they will assume that the bacteria has become resistant to the antibiotics and remove his central line immediately. He'll have to have a pick line temporally installed if that happens. He is responding to the antibiotics right now and hasn't had a fever since last night. Also, no more vomiting and his appetite is back so he's feeling much better. We were able to keep with his chemo schedule today so one more day of chemo, then two days of shots and it's wait and see time.

Sick Boy

We discovered around 3:00 this afternoon (after Logan woke up from a nap) that we had a sick little boy on our hands. He was running a temperature of 102.7 and started vomiting as soon as we gave him Tylenol. We consulted his doctor and he recommend that we take Logan to the ER for a CBC and cultures. So that's where we've been for the last 5 hours. He's not neutropenic so he wasn't admitted. They took the traditional 3 blood cultures (one from each line and one from his arm) and a urine culture plus a throat culture. So far nothing has come back positive, but they'll let the cultures grow out for 48 hours and reevaluate. He was given iv antibiotics in the ER and we were sent home. He wasn't able to keep his dinner down, but he's not complaining of anything hurting... just a fever and fatigue. We'll follow up with his doctor tomorrow. Hopefully nothing new will come up tonight.

The Last of the Chemo

Next weeks chemo schedule for those of you interested.

Monday = 2:00 to 4:00
Tuesday = 2:00 to 4:00
Wednesday = 1:00 to 2:00
Thursday - Shot at 2:00

Then he's finished with chemo! We'll still be going in for the blood tests and there is a possibility of another hospitalization, but hopefully this shot will keep his white blood cell counts up this time.

Logan continues to feel good right now and is very energetic. It's been a challenge finding things for this active boy (and girl too, for that matter) to do around the house with the weather being so cold outside. So far, the reorganization of their toys and setting up their own rooms seems to be occupying them. It's a work in progress that won't be finished until after Christmas because the bulk of their room decorations will be given as gifts on the 25th. I'll post some pictures soon when we get the rooms relatively organized.

Eric's dad, Steve, and his wife Debbie will be visiting us this weekend. They have graciously offered to give Eric and me a date night which we will be spending the bulk of finishing our Christmas shopping. We are both looking forward to a nice, relaxing night in each other's company. THANK YOU STEVE AND DEBBIE! : )

Nothing New

This round is treating Logan similar to last time. He's very tired for about 4 hours, then he eats like crazy and runs around like a monkey. Tomorrow is the dreaded shot day, but it's a short visit and we'll be outta there in a half hour or so.

Trade Off

Logan's blood count from yesterday looks great. He has very few immature neutrophils which is what you should see in a cancer free person. Eric and I are very encouraged that all his cancer is gone.

We also talked with his doctor about the white blood cell stimulator and Logan will be getting one shot of a version that lasts for 14 days in his system (so no daily shots! YEA!) The nurse will administer that shot on December 11 (it has to be 24 hours after chemo ends). We have a CHANCE of Logan not needing to be hospitalized for low white blood cells this time with this new drug. However, while his body is busy making those white blood cells, it's not making the other things so it may mean more transfusions for him. It's a trade off we're willing to make.

Good To Go

Logan has been cleared for chemo tomorrow. This is the same regimen as last time... 3 days on, 4 days off, 3 days on.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, 2009 has been a rough year for us, but we still have much to be thankful for. At the top of our list... a little boy in remission, of course, but we are also thankful for all the support from our friends and family during our journey. Amanda is thankful for her very own bedroom (we spent yesterday painting Eric's old office and moving Amanda in... Eric set up his home office in the basement last weekend) and Logan is thankful that Amanda is no longer leaving messes in HIS room! : ) He is also VERY thankful that Mom agreed to set up the Christmas tree today! : ) He's been BEGGING me since the day after Halloween to set up the tree, but I have a long standing rule... NO CHRISTMAS UNTIL AFTER THANKSGIVING! So I guess we fudged a bit today because Thanksgiving wasn't officially over (Eric was busy in the kitchen making our feast) when the kids and I dragged out all the decorations. They did a MUCH better job decorating this year than years past. They still clustered some ornaments together while leaving some bare spots, but over all they distributed them nicely.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Wait and See

CBC from today is back. White blood cells up slightly, Hemoglobin up slightly, Platelets took a nice big jump but Logan is still not deemed ready for his last round of chemo yet. We'll check back on Monday for another CBC and if all is well, he will start chemo on Tuesday. This weekend we are pushing the iron rich foods to help him make those red blood cells. BRING ON THE DARK TURKEY MEAT!!!! : )

High and Low

Logan's latest (revised) blood count is in:
White Blood Cells = 3.6 (YEA!)
Hemoglobin = 7.2 (TOO LOW!)
Platelets = 77 (SO SO)
Absolute Neutrophils = 2.0 (IN THE NORMAL RANGE !!!! YEA!!!)
So it looks like the the bone marrow stimulating shot did it's job to raise his white blood cell count. However his doctor is concerned about how low is Hemoglobin is so tomorrow we are heading back to the doctor for another blood count to check if he needs a transfusion before the holiday weekend.

The Last Shot

Last night marked a special event in this house. The last of the dreaded shots... at least until the next chemo round. I must stay that we ALL dreaded that crummy shot, but Logan woke up VERY cheerful this morning and skipped into kitchen and announced to all (in case we had forgotten - AS IF!) "NO SHOT TODAY!"

Dreaming Of A Healthy Christmas

Logan is not healthy enough to start his last round of chemo on Monday like we had anticipated. We are now scheduled to begin the following week on November 30th. This is going to push his recovery into Christmas : (. If history repeats, he will not be able to be around germs come Christmas morning so we may need to delay our return to KC to visit family. We have one ray of hope... the new bone marrow stimulating hormone he was put on in the hospital. We're going to talk to his doctor about putting him on the injections as soon as his chemo is finished in the hopes that he will be healthy for Christmas.

Houston... WE HAVE HAIR!

We had lots of fun today using the micro setting on my camera to try to show you some of Logan's new hair. His head is full of white peach fuzz with occasional patches of short brown hairs. However, the BEST part is his eyes. HE FINALLY HAS EYE LASHES!!!!! They are still quite short and sparse but definitely there.

From afar he still looks bald, but it won't be long now until he has a full head of hair. His last two rounds of chemo feature drugs that don't cause hair loss so it's getting to grow back a little earlier than we expected.

A Symbol Of Our Love and Devotion

Today, Eric, Amanda and I all "took one for the team". RIGHT IN THE ARM! The H1N1 flu vaccines are FINALLY available at our doctors office. We had to wait until the injection became available because the nasal mist can shed the live virus for up to a week and infect our little immune suppressed boy. Eric and I had to get special permission to get the shot since we were not in their "high risk" group. Logan took GREAT pleasure in reminding Amanda, Eric and me ALL DAY about our upcoming shot. With all the crap he has to put up with on a daily basis, we let him enjoy this small victory and the ice cream spoils afterwards.

Diane Drew The Short Straw : )

Logan had his first at home shot last night and since Eric is squeamish about blood and needles I had to be the one to poke him. He was very brave but also accusatory afterwards... "THAT WAS MORE THAN ONE SECOND, MOM!"

Home Again

We had to wait for his 12:00 antibiotic before we were released. Now we are home and waiting on Pharmacare to bring us his meds and supplies.

Bacteria Growing In His Line

One of the line cultures grew out bacteria but that shouldn't delay our departure from the hospital. Logan will be sent home on antibiotics and the lab will continue to grow the culture to verify that it is sensitive to the antibiotic he is on. He will also need a once daily injection of the bone marrow stimulator. We're waiting for our walking papers right now... hopefully we'll be home before dinner time.

(bio-) Chemistry lesson

Q: Take one anemic child in a hospital room and add 220ml of RBC's and what do you get?

A: A rubber ball inside a pinball machine.

(I hope we are able to go home tomorrow).

Go, Bone Marrow, GO!

Blood Counts:
WBC = .3
Hemoglobin = 7.1
Platelets = 24
Abs. Neutrophils = Zero

Last night Logan was started on a new drug, sargramostim (Leukine), to stimulate his bone marrow to produce blood cells quicker so hopefully, if it works, he'll recover faster from his neutropenia. No growth on the cultures but his hemoglobin drop far enough that he'll be getting a blood transfusion today. If he can stay fever free for the next 24 hours, we may be going home tomorrow and they will probably be giving him one more platelet transfusion before we leave (but they will check his counts in the morning first). We will be sent home on a week of antibiotics but we don't know what kind yet. I think that's all the news for now. He's feeling good and so far is satisfied with playing video games, watching some toons and playing with a few toys in bed. Amanda and I brought him donuts for breakfast this morning so we'll see what his energy level does after he processes all that sugar! : )

Pin Worms?

Blood work is back... looks like Logan is neutropenic. Along with having low white blood cells and a fever, he is been complaining about itching and pain in the rectal area. The doctors think there is a possibility that he has been exposed to pin worms from the dogs and/or cats he's been around. Hopefully that will take care of his discomfort but he's still running a fever so looks like we'll be here until his counts come back up... at least through Sunday. No growth on the blood cultures yet.

Back At Wesley

Logan and Eric slept at Wesley Medical Center last night. His fever kept going up and he was "feeling bad". He couldn't explain what was wrong, just that he "felt funny". Same story as before... they are doing blood cultures and put him on antibiotics as a precaution. Amanda and I will head over there in a little bit and I'll post more after the doctors come by on their rounds.

I Blame Myself

Today was a beautiful day and the weather man is calling for rain turning to snow this weekend so I thought it would be nice to take the kids' bikes to the park... I shouldn't have done that! Logan is now running a fever. It hasn't spiked above 101 (the magic number that sends us to the hospital) but it's getting close. I didn't realize that a lot of activity can exacerbate neutropenia (low white blood cells) and bring on a fever. Right now he's eating lots of Popsicles and watching a cartoon marathon in hopes that we can reverse the damage done. In the mean time, Eric has packed his bag and is ready to go sleep on a hard, uncomfortable cot at a moment's notice. : (

Cool As A Cucumber

So why are cucumbers so darn cool? We don't know either, but we like the cliché. Logan is still fever free and eating 10 meals a day. No new bruises since yesterday... but it will be a while before he's back to normal skin tone. We have another CBC scheduled for tomorrow but we won't get the results until Friday.

One Bag, Please

We already knew Logan's platelets were very low by all the bruising he has, but it was confirmed this morning with a phone call from his doctor. White blood cells were .4, Hemoglobin 8.4, and platelets 8 so off to the hospital he went today (with Eric) for a bag of platelets.

I know a lot of you don't realize what I mean when I say he bruises easily so here are some photos of his colorful skin. He looks more like a leopard than a boy with all his spots. He is bruising so easily that just touching him is practically causing a bruise! It's a good thing that these don't hurt. He looks terrible but feels great so I'm okay with that.

Lots Of Bruises

Logan gave more blood today for a CBC and we'll get the results tomorrow morning. Right now he has many, many bruises all over his body and we're very worried (because he's so darn active) that he's going to start bleeding and not be able to stop. He's still eating like crazy and has WAY to much energy (for his mom and dad's peace of mind). No fevers so far! HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hanging In There

Logan is still doing good. Eric is a nervous mother hen checking him for fevers every couple of hours so so far he's been cool as a cucumber. I feel like we're living on borrowed time waiting for the other shoe to drop but the plus side is that MY nervous habit is cleaning so my house is sparkling! : )

I also wanted to let family members know that Eric and I have decided to stay in Wichita this Thanksgiving. We're sad to be missing the traditional family meals, but with Logan's underlying health concerns we feel it's best to wait until he's all done with chemo before exposing him to possible germs. We're in the home stretch now! We are planing on making an extended visit in December for Christmas. Thank you all for understanding.

Adventure In Our Own Yard

What WONDERFUL weather we've been having! We've been playing outside as much as possible this week and today the kids were creating their own games and I just HAD to take some video to share. They decided to do some rock climbing with a tie down strap they found in the garage. The hooked it to their dad's BRAND NEW car : ) (good thing it's a company car!)


Only Amanda could go rock climbing in high healed shoes. My little girl loves to play outside and get dirty, she just wants to play with style!

**************************************************

Then one more video from this weekend... we had the BIGGEST pile of leaves EVER then once we were all done playing, Eric and the kids moved the piles (one wheelbarrow ride at a time) to the garden where we chopped them up for mulch.

Here are the kids "helping dad" by holding the leaves down as he pushes the wheel barrow to the garden. You don't see this kind of selfless servitude these days!

I think the dogs had as much fun as the kids did! Amanda had a ball burying Casey in the pile.Logan is trying to make a leaf cave by excavating. As you can imagine, his plan was short lived. After that he decided to build leaf walls... much more stable (until the dogs jumped into the pile!). : )
***************************************************
And more blood counts from Wednesday... Hemoglobin is up from Wednesday but the others are falling... who knows!

White Blood Cells = .5
Hemoglobin = 9.6
Platelets = 31
Absolute Neutrophils = .3

Wednesday Blood Counts

White Blood Cells = .9

Hemoglobin = 8.1

Platelets = 120

Absolute Neutrophils Count = .765



So, what does this mean? He's slightly neutropenic (can't fight bacterial infections), doesn't need a blood transfusion yet, and is able to clot blood should he get a cut. His white blood cells and neutrophils have both come up from Monday so good news for us. : ) We were told by his doctor that this type of treatment tends to cause the blood counts to jump up and down... Let's hope he's on the up and that the down doesn't go too low.

Getting Low

Logan had another CBC yesterday and we got the results today. His white blood cells are getting low... right now they are at .7 but no blood transfusion just yet with his Hemoglobin at 8.9. Platelets are doing good at 168, but his Absolute Neutrophils are at .29 (very low!), so we're being doubly conscious of germs and watching for fevers.

He is still doing well with a normal energy level and above average appetite. Tomorrow is another leg shot then we're done with this round of chemo. I talked with Amanda's preschool teacher today and there are numerous kids (about a quarter of the class) out sick with at least one confirmed H1N1 case. I'm SO thankful that we pulled her out of school last month!

Our Happy Halloween

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Halloween. This is a much anticipated holiday in the Neal home and the kids were ready a little early so we played in our costumes in the backyard to kill some time. Here's the whole clan ready for trick or treating.

Sadly, this year everyone couldn't agree (and by everyone, I mean Logan and Amanda... Eric and I aren't that picky) on what they wanted to dress up as so we didn't have a family theme this year. But it was a lot of fun seeing what creative things everyone came up with all by themselves!

Logan wanted to be a ninja. Here he is showing you some of his moves.

Amanda, who is REALLY into horses this year, wanted to be a horse rider from her FAVORITE TV program, Horse Riders! Her outfit included Logan's bicycle helmet covered in black fabric, black goo goo boots (that we had previously bought from a consignment sale earlier this year) and a 5 dollar stick horse form Dollar General.

Here are my two cuties taking turns on the tire swing. Don't worry, we didn't send Logan out trick or treating without shoes. He found some water shoes that he thought looked like something a ninja would ware right before we left.

And my adorable husband! He came up with this about 2:00 this afternoon. An ashamed Chiefs fan!

By the way... I was a witch if you couldn't tell from the photo : ) As Lucy from Charlie brown says's "A person should choose a costume that is in direct contrast to her personality." (hee hee)

And speaking of Charlie Brown. I SOOOO wanted us to go as the Charlie Brown clan since Logan has the bald head but all I could manage was him dressing up for 10 seconds while I took a photo.

He took it like a MAN!

Logan wanted Eric to take him to his appointment today so I hear from him that Logan did GREAT with his leg shot (even though it was a BIG needle! : ).

He Keeps Going and Going and Going...

Logan is still handling the chemo treatments well. He has been sleeping through his appointments (as soon as they give him Benadryl he's out) and he's like the Energizer Bunny the rest of the day long.

Tomorrow is the big day for the leg shot and Logan is stressing about it. We'll let you know how he handles it.

Here We Go Again

After a wonderful family weekend (with NO hospital stays!!!! - what a nice change) we are heading back to the doctor's office for another round of chemo. His appointment is for 10:00 t0day and this round will feature the 3 day treatment cycle, 4 days off, then 3 days again. This is a new regimen for us and will also include a new chemo drug that has to be administered as a shot in the leg (that will happen on Wednesday) but NO MORE BACK SHOTS!!!! : ) We'll keep you all updated on how Logan handles this new chemo treatments in the weeks to come.

How We Spent This Beautiful Day

What a WONDERFUL October day we had today at HOME!!!! We played hooky from school (sorry Mrs. Nicholson : ) and rode bikes, played in the backyard, and dug in the rocks. Logan and Amanda found some big rocks and were stacking them up, then I brought out the water hose and we made a fountain! Here are some photos of our wonderful day.

***********************************************

I took a bunch of photos trying to show you Logan's backpack. He went home on 24 hour iv antibiotics and he has an iv bag and infusion pump that he is hooked to all day and night so this backpack is now his new best friend. He's still getting use to taking it everywhere. I noticed that he puts it down often, only to pick it back up and put it on. Hopefully it won't bother him too much. We're just happy to be home and mobile!

I failed to get any photos of my friend Megan with the kids. She came for a visit on Sunday and was able to take Amanda to the park and hang out with her at home while Eric was at work and I was at the hospital with Logan on Monday. She also stayed to play with us on Tuesday morning and into the afternoon. THANKS SO MUCH MY FRIEND!

Home.

Not a minute too early, Logan is now home.

Double Finger Crosses

Logan is feeling better and we're hoping that the fever doesn't come back. All the blood cultures are coming back negative (so far) but they have to grow out for 48 hours before it's official (which will be 10:00 tonight). If the fever stays gone and there's no growth in the cultures, he can go home tonight (or tomorrow morning if he's sleeping). The official word right now is that he had an unidentifiable virus that was causing his fever. His white blood cells are doing great right now so he is able to fight off his own infections and heal himself. Logan's classmates and teacher are all doing double finger crosses for us! Thanks friends!

So Far, No Growth

So far the cultures are not growing anything however the urine they sampled had a high pH and they suspect bacteria. We won't have any more news until tomorrow. Right now he's on iv antibiotics.

Prelims

For the night owls (or early birds), initial tests and current symptoms are promising. No real signs of flu, and his counts are starting to come up. We will have more information when we talk to the attending physician in the morning, so stay tuned. I am hoping for a garden-variety bug that clears quickly.

Sick Boy

Logan and Eric are heading back to the hospital tonight. His fever is back with a cough. I just hope he didn't catch the flu from our last visit. Hospitals are nasty, germy places : (. The doctors will do all the tests again tonight and it will be a couple of days before we get the results but we'll know sooner if its the flu.

New Blood Counts

White Blood Cells = .7
Hemoglobin = 8.0
Platelets = 46

All is well.

Schedule for the Next 2 Months

We just got back from another doctors appointment for a CBC and we asked a few questions about the up coming chemo. Here is Logan (and our) schedule for the next two months.

Next week - recovery and more blood work on Monday and Thursday

October 26 and 27 - chemo drug Ara-C twice daily &
October 28 a new drug, Asparaginase, injected into the leg.
(only 3 days long - wait 4 days - do cycle again)

November 2 and 3 - chemo drug Ara-C twice daily &
November 4 - Asparaginase injection.

Recovery time (and possible hospitalization) of two weeks.

November 23 and 24 - chemo drug Ara-C twice daily &
** Week of Thanksgiving : ( **
November 25 - Asparaginase injection.

November 30 and December 1 - chemo drug Ara-C twice daily &
December 2 - Asparaginase injection.

Week of December 7th - expect hospitalization.

THEN HE'S DONE!!!!!! : )

He'll have a bone marrow biopsy right before Christmas (or right after if that fits our schedule better) to confirm that all cancer is gone. Some time in Febuary he'll have is Hickman catheter removed (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOGAN). Then just CBC blood work every month to monitor and make sure that nasty cancer doesn't come back.

A Sigh of Relief

I'm breathing easier now that we've been home for almost 24 hours without incident. This last round of chemo did a number on our boy, but so far today he's doing well. No crazy temperatures to send us back to the hospital, but he has sores in his throat (where before he had them in his mouth) that are bothering him. He's still eating okay for us... just nothing crunchy and usually in small doses. I guess time will tell if we got out of the germ factory called a hospital without the flu... which someone had RIGHT NEXT DOOR! We were two nervous germ-a-phob parents let me tell you!

We have spent the day converting a corner of the play room into a fabulous study corner for Logan and Amanda and the kids have rediscovered some old toys in the reorganization. I only hope that this winter goes as smoothly as today has gone. Thank you all for your finger crossing, wishing and hoping for us. : )

Near Miss

It was close, but we made it out of Wesley Hospital!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HIP HIP HURRAY!!!!!!

His temperature at 4:00 today was 99.6 but they let us go because it wasn't at their magic number.
FINE BY ME!

We may be back in there tomorrow, but we're home tonight.

Blue Sky on a Cloudy Day.

There is a chance that Logan may be dismissed from the hospital this afternoon!!! His last recorded temperature was yesterday at 4:00 so if he still doesn't have a temperature this afternoon they will let him go home on antibiotics. Yesterday, they changed his antibiotics thinking that the two he was on wasn't cutting it for his urinary tract infection and was the reason for his continued temperature (while we all know that it's just neutropenic fever). No matter the reason if it gets us home, I say! Check back this evening and I'll post if we do indeed make it home. COME ON LOGAN!!!! KEEP THAT TEMP DOWN!!!!! GOOO LOGANNNNNN!

DARN THIS FEVER!

Logan spiked another fever this afternoon so add on TWO MORE DAYS to our stay. : (

Maybe Tomorrow

If Logan can stay fever free we'll be able to go home tomorrow late afternoon. His sores in his throat are worse, but manageable with Popsicles and Tylenol. He is hanging from the rafters so we are SOOOO ready to go home.

Blood counts - white blood cells made a very small jump to .5, Hemoglobin up to 9.0 thanks to his transfusion. Platelets continue to drop... down to 35.

UTI and Blood Transfusion

The urine culture came back that Logan has a urinary tract infection and they are attributing his fever to that. This is good news for us since the doctors keep him in the hospital longer if they can't find a reason for the fever (and he's not feeling any pain from that).

We still need to wait for all the other blood cultures to grow out to confirm that he doesn't have bacteria in his blood. His hemoglobin dropped to 6.7 so he will be getting a blood transfusion today. His white blood cells came up slightly from yesterday to .4 ( 5.0 to 15 is normal so he still has a long way to go before he can fight infection on his own).

Update on his fever... he just measured 100.7 which will probably set us back another 2 days being dismissed. Looks like we'll be at the hospital for Amanda's 4th birthday. We'll have to make it up to her after Logan is dismissed.

Still Feverish

Still no word on if the boy has an infection, but he's on antibiotics as a preventive measure. He is feverish as well so at least 2 more days in the hospital... probably more.

Transfusion Last Night

It was discovered last night that Logan had blood in his urine and his platelets had fallen to 4 so he was given a transfusion over night. We are still waiting for the results for the cultures and chest x ray this morning. We also haven't had the update from his latest CBC, but since his lips are white and he's cold all the time I would imagine he's low on red blood cells too. More info will be posted as it becomes available.

Back On Hospital Time

Logan is back in the hospital tonight with a fever. As usual, we won't have any test results until tomorrow at the earliest. We'll keep you all posted as new news becomes available.

Blood Counts

Red blood cells are low... 7.9 but no transfusion until he falls below 7.0. Platelets are low as well at 24 but Dr. Rosen doesn't transfuse platelets unless he is having active bleeding because he can only get so many platelet transfusions before his body starts to reject them. White blood cells are 0.1 with no neutrophils so he has NO germ fighting abilities right now. This is historically the time when he starts running a fever and ends up in the hospital. His temp this morning was 99.5, but it doesn't count until it hits 101.0 so we'll just watch it over the weekend and hope for the best. His energy level today is not what it usually is so we're going to take it easy this weekend and hang around the house.

The More The Merrier

All is well in Wichita. Logan and Amanda are now home bound until after all the chemo is done and Logan can withstand the nasty bugs going around. After much deliberation, Eric and I decided that it was silly to send Amanda to school only to bring home the bugs to Logan so they are both here with me at the dinning room table each day doing their school work. Amanda has had the seasonal flu vaccine, but not the H1N1 and that flu is going around the Derby school district (too close to home). She has also had some classmates with out with various illnesses including croup which would be harmful to Logan. We are so sad to be missing the play dates with the moms group, but we'll be back in the swing of things before you know it!

In other news, Logan had a CBC blood test today and we'll get those results tomorrow. We expect that he will be low on platelets because he is having a lot of skin bruising, mostly on his arms and legs, but he also has bruises on his nose and right eye. He looks like this sister took him out behind the woodshed! Otherwise he is doing fine, eating like a mad man and running around like a monkey.

Homeschool

Home schooling in the Neal house has begun. At first Logan was not too excited about sitting down with me and doing school work when there were bikes to ride and toys to play with but after we made these nifty school work sorters he found some renewed interest and spent 3 hours working today! The green box (cereal boxes we cut and covered with wrapping paper) is his "in" box. He looks through it to see what he would like to work on next.

Here he is working hard. Notice the pencil behind his ear! : ) He is also a tongue chewer when he's concentrating.

The completed work goes in the animal box. His teacher is going to be coming to the house to work with him too and he's very excited about the idea of showing her all his completed school work.

His writing skills are improving everyday. Here's a short little video of him doing his school work.

Pumpkin Patch

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again! Today Logan is feeling great today so we decided to try the pumpkin patch again (with vomit bucket in the car just in case : ). The kids had a BALL! We took so many pictures and video that it's hard to decide which ones to post but here are the highlights.

Getting ready to go down the underground slide!

Amanda coming out the bottom! SUPER FAST!

Eric inside the slide, ready to go!

Logan was ready for a loud BOOM from the pumpkin cannon.

Paddling around the pond looking for the alligator. (Not to worry, it wasn't real)

I think Amanda got the best deal here! You guys petal and I'll sit and watch!

Giant Air Pillow!

Tree House "Secret" ladder.

LOVING the corn table! We need one of these for our sand! (The dogs keep digging ours out)

I think Eric had just as much fun as the kids.

Corn Maze.

The ONLY family photo we were able to get.

The kids didn't want to join us for the nice up close one.

Look at Logan go!