Finally... a nice calm boring day... :)

After a rough night, we had a really good boring day.

Overnight, Ryan was having a little trouble with his kidneys, so they decided to insert a Foley catheter, to relieve any pressure... (I'm sure any men reading this just flinched)... Needless to say, Ryan was totally unimpressed.  He is still dealing with the 'roid rage (inconsolable emotions) from the high levels of steroids they are giving him, and this just totally sucked.  Patrick called me around midnight or 1:00 am my time, because Ryan absolutely needed to talk to me.  Apparently I must have said something useful (I was fast asleep, so I'm not really sure what I said), because Ryan calmed down and accepted his fate. 

Today, the kidney functions seem better and the doctors are very pleased with his output.  All lab numbers are great.  Electrolytes and Blood Numbers are getting back to normal.  The really good news is that the WBC is down to 2000 with a lymphoblasts at just 300 (these are the bad T-Cells).  This is making the doctors very happy.

His lymph nodes are almost small enough that you can't feel them, and the numbness on the side of his face is pretty much gone.

So, now we begin the short wait till his blood numbers and electrolytes get back to normal, which the docs believe should be by Friday or Saturday.  Then we get to officially begin his chemotherapy treatment.  If I understand the 'roadmap', his first phase of treatment will last about 29 days, so we might be done with this phase by the end of May. 

We tend not to plan too far in advance with Ryan... He doesn't do well with plans or schedules.  So for now, we are just looking at tomorrow.

In the pictures here, Ryan happens to have his shirt off.  For any non-medical personnel reading this, the two little white dots attached to the top of his chest are just leads, that record his heart rate and breathing rate.  The catheter attached to his chest (covered by Tagederm, the plastic tape covering) is his 'central line', which is a catheter that is inserted into his chest, threaded up to his neck and into his jugular vein and drops down into his heart.  This is a permanent IV access that allows us to give him IV fluids without an IV in his arm (which he loves!).  He has had this since he was a baby, so it's not a new thing.  There are actually two lines attached, so he can have two different medications going at the same time.  Very convenient!

If anyone wants to write to Ryan, I've included his mailing address below.  He is currently in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) on the 6th floor, until all his numbers are back to normal.  Then they will move him to the general Oncology floor (7th floor) and his room number will change.  However, the hospital said that if you include his name and DOB (Date of Birth), mail will find him even if he moves. 

Ryan Patrick Simpson (DOB 1/21/04)
c/o Seattle Children's Hospital
Room # FA.6.305
PO Box 5371
Seattle, WA 98145-5005

As for Patrick and I, we are okay... I had a rough morning, but it got better as the day progressed.  Patrick got an egg-crate mattress pad for the parent bed in the ICU, and he was able to get about 6 hours of sleep (of course it was between noon and 6pm, so now he'll be up all night)... The Grandparents even got him a pillow... It's amazing how a good rest makes everything better...

Thanks to Jessica Sloan for dinner tonight... It was delicious!!  And thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts!  While I know the light at the end of the tunnel is far away, I also know that it is there... just waiting for us to reach it.

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