All is well

We have (obviously) backed off this blog in recent months. For those still following here, Logan continues to do well and is getting great reports from doctors. We are planning on having a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to the rest of the holiday season. We will be celebrating a significant milestone between Thanksgiving and Christmas, one year post-treatment! Logan is excited that he will have half the number of needle pokes, since oncologist visits are scheduled for every other month after December. Diane and I are thankful for much more than fewer doctor visits. For those that want to "stay in the loop", Diane spends quite a bit of effort keeping a more public blog going strong. This (Logan's Battle) blog has been restricted to close family and friends during Logan's treatment, and everyone who has access to this blog is more than welcome to follow "Two Little Monkeys". We will still post here periodically, but understand that "no news is good news" if we go a month or two between posts. If you are interested in the more mundane (yet quite entertaining) "normal" stuff that happens to a certain suburban family of four, check out http://twolittlemonkeys-landa.blogspot.com

August Numbers

Sorry for the delay in posting this. We've been very busy this summer (as it should be!).

WBC - 8.7
HGB - 13.1
PLT - 349

SEG - 40
LYMPH - 50
MONO - 6
EOSIN - 3
BASO - 1

Manual Differential Count:
SEG-M =43
LYMPH-M = 41
MONO-M = 8
EOSIN-M = 1
BASO-M = 2 (HIGH)**
Atypical Lymph = 5 (HIGH)**

**Those last two numbers freaked me out when I saw the print out. They were the only flags on his CBC but any flag at all makes me worry. After talking to Eric (my Amateur Oncologist) and then Dr. Rosen (Logan's actual Oncologist) I now feel much better. It seems that those two numbers reflect that Logan has been fighting some type of "normal" infection. He did have strep throat earlier that month and was currently fighting a cold so all can be explained. Next checkup will be in September.

6 Month Checkup

Still Cancer Free!

WBC - 7.7
HGB - 12.2
PLT - 298

SEGS - 53%
LYM - 42%
MONO - 5%

Everything looks GREAT!

May CBC

WBC- 8.21
HGB - 12.3
PLT - 341

Segs- 41.2%
Lymph - 49.2%
Mono - 6.66%
ESO - 1.43%
Baso - 1.55%

All the numbers are more for our record keeping and the few heath professionals that frequent our blog and like to see the numbers : ).

Logan is doing well, still no sign of the cancer. He gave us a scare this past month with enlarged lymph nodes the size of soft balls (and I'm not joking!). It turned out that he got strep throat (with out a fever!) that caused his lymph nodes to swell. After a 10 day round of antibiotics they were back to normal size. We have his monthly checkup with Dr Rosen tomorrow but we don't expect any bad news. We have the CBC done ahead of time so the cancer doctor has the results at the time of the checkup and since I have my very own number interpreter (Eric) I don't have to wait for the official verdict before breathing my monthly sigh of relief.

April CBC Results

WBC - 10.0
HGB - 12.8
PLT - 426
Segs - 55%
Lymph - 39%
Mono - 3%
Baso - 2 %
ESO - 1%

Looking good! Even better than last month. Go Logan, Go!!!

Still considered cancer free. 4 months down, 8 to go 'till we pass the very important first year milestone.

March Checkup

Test results from March Check up

WBC - 5.7
HGB - 13.1
PLT - 52
SEG - 52
LYMPH - 33

So what does that mean? He's fine. No cancer. Healthy as a horse. : )

Eric and I are breathing a little easier now since the boy has been sick non-stop for 3 weeks. We were hoping that wasn't a bad sign and it looks like all his illnesses are just bad luck. Probably has something to do with being in a classroom full of other coughing, sneezing 6 year olds 7 hours a day, 5 days a week.

The Lion

Logan asked for his stuffed lion at bed time tonight. I could not remember him having a lion, so I was confused. He proceeded to describe quite accurately how 5 months ago, a big stuffed dog came into his hospital room and gave him a stuffed lion. The story was complete with his dinner that evening (I had stopped by Papa John's for cheese pizza). This particular hospital visit was for a blood transfusion, so it was brief. After Logan's description, I remembered what happened. It became very vivid, because Diane and I tried to play it off at the time. We left the hospital late that night, then we were back in the slammer the next day with neutropenic fever. I checked with the hospital staff when we were re-admitted the next day, and the lion was indeed lost. Impressed by my own memory skills, I proudly told Logan "We lost that lion in the hospital room and we never found it", wait...Did I just say that out loud?
Well, Logan is devastated. He cried in grief for nearly five minutes, then sniffled out a gameplan: We must find a picture of the lion, then put it on posters with our phone number and hang the posters all over town. I can see it now: LOST LION. ANSWERS TO "FLUFFY". REWARD. CALL LOGAN 555-1212.

If this is his worst memory of Wesley Hospital, I think he will be OK.

Logan's next checkup is on Wednesday, so check back later for the new report. Everybody is in very good health, after fighting every type of bug imaginable last week. Spring-like weather is forecast for this weekend, so we are all planning on working on our tans.

A-Okay

Logan's CBC looks good. No worries at the pediatrician. We'll see his cancer doctor on Wednesday for a check up as well.

Monday Doctor

Monday Logan will be visiting his primary doctor and getting his monthly blood count. She'll send that info to his cancer doctor and we'll see him on Wednesday for a check up. We'll let you know how things turn out.

New Blog

Well, since Logan's journey is winding down and his battle website won't be as active, I've discovered that I miss my daily blogging. With that in mind, I decided to start another blog devoted to both my children. This blog I've will be public so you won't need to be invited to follow. I'll keep you all updated our crazy lives and photos.

Check it out at http://twolittlemonkeys-landa.blogspot.com/

Happy days!

Everything is still great! Here is another up-to-the-minute photo.

New 'doo

Logan wants to show off his new hair, so here you go!

For those of you still checking the blog, it will probably slow down to a post every week or two. Doctor visits are now a once-monthly affair, so we will not have much to report. We are all adjusting well to "normal" life. Swim lessons and gymnastics are probably in the near future for Logan and Amanda. School is apparently not a good place to get the "wiggles" out.

CANCER FREE!

Logan is officially

CANCER FREE!


HIP HIP HOORAY!

All Went Well

Logan's biopsy went well today. He asked for the Ketamine first (the sleepy medicine) because he remembered that the Versed (can't remember medicine) makes him feel dizzy. The doctors were more than happy to accommodate his wishes. While he was sedated, they did the bone marrow aspiration and spinal tap. Then an echocardiogram and and EKG to make sure the chemo drugs he's had over the past 6 months have not damaged his heart. They also removed his PICC line before we left. We'll get the results tomorrow, but today he is doing well and enjoying life with out tubes in his body. He is still a little unsteady from the medicine so we decided to keep him home from school for the rest of the day. The doctor's say he can have a full immersion bath tomorrow and he is SOOOOO looking forward to that! (Fast showers are just no fun!)

Tubies All GONE!

I love this shirt! It say's it all.

Bone Marrow Biopsy Tomorrow

Logan will be fasting after midnight tonight to prepare for his bone marrow biopsy tomorrow. He is scheduled to be at the hospital at 7:30 a.m. and I would expect him to have his procedure done around 8:30 a.m. We're not sure if he'll feel up to going to school afterwards so we'll just play it by ear. The results should be back by Wednesday.

First Full Week of School

Logan really enjoyed his first full week of school... ever! He came home from school each day ravenous but very happy. This morning he was a little dismayed to discover that it wasn't Saturday yet. He can now empathize with the rest of the world about how long a work week really is! : )


At Logan's school this week they started a fundraiser called Pennies for Patients with the proceeds going to the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. His teacher, Mrs. Nicholson, put together a wonderful slide show about Logan's battle with cancer to make the cause real for the kids and asked me to stop by and speak about his journey. It was such a moving slide show that I wanted to share it with the rest of you.

Unfortunately, I've had some problems figuring out how to get this big, 4 minute long slide show on the blog for you all to view so I had to end up just doing a small part. Mrs. Nicholson graciously made me a copy of the whole slide show so I can make copies and send it to those of you interested. However, here is a sneak peak of the master piece... try not to cry, grandma. : )(Even Eric couldn't make it through with dry eyes).

Tuesday, January 12th

Logan is scheduled for his last bone marrow biopsy for next Tuesday, January 12th.

Biopsy Next Week

We're waiting for Peds. Sedation to call the doctor's office back for an appointment, but Logan's counts are high enough that he'll be getting his bone marrow biopsy next week. We should know tomorrow his exact date and time.

In other news, Amanda got to make her debut at school today and LOVE IT! She had a wonderful time and I enjoyed 5 hours of Mommy Time. I just LOVE Tuesdays! : )

Logan also decided that he wants to start riding the bus again so I drove him to school today and he rode the bus home. He wants to ride it TO school now too... I told him that he would have to stand on the corner on the coldest morning on record for Kansas and he said "No problem!" We're still in negotiations.

Great Day!

Logan had a GREAT day at school today. He was very happy to be back and even told us a LITTLE about what went on (usually he's just "I don't know." and "Nothing." when we ask about his day). We did have to pick him up an hour early for his doctor's appointment, but he seemed okay with that. At the doctor we got a few questions answered... here are the cliff notes.

- After today's CBC results (we'll get those in the morning) we'll have a better idea of when his last bone marrow biopsy will be. If his body has recovered, it will be soon... if not, test again next week and evaluate.

- After his bone marrow biopsy, his PICC line will come out and he'll be resigned to a CBC and check up every month for a year.

Back To School

Well, we've enjoyed a wonderful Christmas break visiting with friends and family but I'm SO looking forward to Logan and Amanda going back to school! Tomorrow is Logan's first day back in over 3 months. OH, HAPPY DAY! It's a little ironic that we've been keeping him out of school to keep him healthy, then we're sending him back with a head cold : ). Looks like he picked a little something up on our trip to KC... no big deal though. He's body is fully capable of healing itself now. He also has a CBC scheduled for tomorrow. Right now he's scheduled for 10:30 a.m., but I'm going to call in the morning to see if we can push it back to late afternoon so he won't miss the start of his special school day. I'll be sure to let you all know how his day went.