Low Counts And A Back Poke

Today was Alex's monthly appointment, and quarterly back poke. We left the house on time, and rode the tram up to the hospital. We ran into Taylor, Alex's Chemo Pal on the way up to the clinic. Alex was shy, and goofy, but got interested in her bag of goodies and the "Build-A-Bear" that she had pretty quickly.

Alex was a champ at getting his Port accessed, and we quickly received word that his ANC was only 400 - still really low. So, we are off of the Mercaptapurine Chemo this week. We were, however, green-lighted for the steroids (Prednisone) and the Lumbar Puncture to push the Chemo drug Methotrexate into his spinal fluid.

Alex was quite excited about the "sleepy milk", which is the medication called Propofol, which puts him under during the procedure. After his body went limp, I put him on the procedure table, and went outside the room to wait. The procedure went quickly, but Alex waking up is another story. That kid can sleep, and sleep! When he finally woke up, he was my goofy boy, all the way to the cafeteria, where he proceeded to eat just about everything I put in front of him!

After the clinic visit, and lunch at the cafeteria, we headed for Alex's school. He was clingy for a few minutes, and then was just fine, and enjoyed his school day.

We have to be careful since his counts are low, that he doesn't get sick. A fever right now would land him in the hospital for at least 48 hours. We are doing lots of hand washing, and hand sanitizer right now, hoping that his counts rise while off the Mercaptapurine, so we can get him back on this life-saving Chemo drug.

We go back in for a counts check next Tuesday to see which way his counts are trending. Up, baby, up!