Still Waiting

Well, the good news is that Ben's doctors decided that they could go forward with the Vincristine and steroids today so his Maintenance Phase can stay on track. Even better news is that even though Ben was extremely nervous about getting the Vincristine without a PICC line, because of the special numbing patch they used on his hand (and of course because of the expertise of the doctor and nurse) the needle insertion was completely pain free.

It was actually kind of funny. Ben was getting more and more nervous by the second as the doctor was having a little bit of difficulty finding a vein in the top of his hand. She finally said okay I found one and then a few seconds later Ben said, "when are you going to do it???" and she replied, "It is already in!" That certainly brightened Ben's mood!

The first blood sample that they took was no good so Ben needed to have his finger poked so they could get an accurate read on his numbers. He was very brave. Unfortunately, his white blood count has gone even lower. It is down to around 165. This means that Ben continues to be neutropenic so he will need to continue to stay home from school. According to the protocol, because his number fell below 500, we have stopped the Mercaptapurine and he cannot receive the Methotrexate. Hopefully because he is feeling much better (no more fever) the numbers will start to go back up soon. They also mentioned that the Dexamethasone (steroids) may help the numbers to go up. Not sure what the next step will be. I should find out more tomorrow.