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.