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.