Milestone

Ben received the last of the Cytarabine (aka ARA-C) today. He is on day 39 of Delayed Intensification. This is very important to me as this should be the last (if I am understanding things correctly) of the drugs that really impact his counts. Ben's numbers are not so great at the moment. Polys are at 77, which means he is still neutropenic (neutropenic if below 500 - normal is between 1,800 and 8,000). Hemoglobin was at 6.7 this morning (normal is between 11.5 and 14.5) - but he received a transfusion today so the number should be better tomorrow. His platelet count is at 130,000, normal is between 150,000 and 450,000 - so not too low compared to the summer at this point. His spirits are high and his energy level is really pretty good considering what he has gone through the last two weeks!

I spent over 6 hours in an Infusion Center room today with two young boys and they actually got along pretty well. Everyone always comments about how well behaved Ben and David are. Ben is one of the best patients ever and David is a great little brother (extremely well behaved for a 5-year old trying to cope with everything!!). We have had a few new nurses in the past few weeks and they always come in saying that they have heard so much about these amazing boys and how fantastic they are...I always love that by the end of the treatment time they tell me that the stories that they had heard were not exaggerated. Such amazing boys!!!

Ben only has a few more days of Delayed Intensification - only receiving Thioguanine in the evening. Due to his low counts the antibiotics at the Infusion Center are scheduled all week and they will need to monitor his numbers very closely to see if more blood product tranfusions are necessary but from our standpoint the tough stuff is close to an end! We are a little nervous that Ben has a cough and stuffy nose but up until now his temperature has been normal so we are really hoping and praying that it doesn't turn into something more serious that will cause him to be hospitalized. Not a great time of year to have your defenses down!

By the way, Ben has decided that when his Daddy returns from his business trip next week that he is going to shave the last little wisps of hair he has left. Up until this point, he really hasn't seen himself as bald but now he sees that he doesn't have much left so he might as well shave it off. He is not upset about his hair being gone, he is only nervous about getting cut. It should be fun to have the two guys shave their heads at the same time...of course with Mommy supervision! We will take pictures!