Day 12 - Ryan's Day Out...

When dad told him there were no symbiotes
in Guardians of the Galaxy
The doctors were so pleased with Ryan that they granted him a daily pass!  He got to go out with Patrick to have lunch and see the new apartment!  He really enjoyed his time away and almost missed his 'due back by:' time, due to a flat tire! 


Playing at IKEA
All is still going well and the doctors are still discussing discharge.  But we are being patient and waiting until everyone is on board.  :)

Some of his labs dropped this morning, but the doctors said they were expecting that.  In fact, they would have been more concerned if the numbers had NOT dropped.  (his ANC dropped to somewhere in the 500s).

The doctors preferred that we not take him out to too many public places, so we are delaying the trip to the movies and the Natural History Museum until his ANC numbers come back up.  But I don't think he minded too much.  He got to try out his new bed and he talked daddy into buying a TV to attach to his Xbox.  Spoiled Rotten Brat...

I am on the other side of the country, in Orlando, with my BPA team, but I still get to talk to him and keep up with what is going on.  He couldn't be in better hands... :)

 
Trying out the new bed at the apartment
-------------------------------------------------------------
(I didn't have labs when I wrote the post tonight... I'll update this post with labs tomorrow morning..)
Blasts -
ANC -
Hematocrit -
Hemoglobin -
RBC -
WBC -
Creatine -
Glucose -
Lymphocytes -
Platelets -

Description of lab numbers, in layman's terms:
Blasts - roughly the number of leukemia cells found in the sample.  We want this to be 0.
ANC -  This tells us how well his body can fight off normal infections... We want this to be greater than 500..  Normal would be greater than 1500.
Hematocrit/Hemoglobin (H&H)  - This is a number of how much blood is in his system.  His normal range is 28-32/9-11.  The numbers are linked, so they are usually referenced together.  We will transfuse him more Red Blood Cells if he gets below 21/7.0.  (this is the blood you donate at blood drives, and we expect to use lots of it)
RBC (Red Blood Cells) - The number of Red Blood Cells in his body.  Normal is 4 - 5.5.  He has always been low, so we are happy with numbers around 2.5.  This number will go down with chemo.
WBC (White Blood Cells) - This tells us how many white blood cells he has (in thousands).  Normal is between 4.5 and 10.  We expect this to remain low, between 1.5 and 2.5 for a while.
Creatine - This is a good number to make sure the kidneys are working.  Normal range is between .5 and 1.2... If this gets higher, it means his kidneys are struggling.
Glucose - This number tells us that the pancreas is working.  Some kids struggle with diabetes as a result of the meds.  We want to see this number remain above 60 and below 150.
Lymphocytes - Non-cancerous T-Cells and B-Cells.  Normal would be around 1000, so we expect this number to be low.  This is the number of cells that will kill off bad cells like viruses.
Platelets - This is the number of platelets in the blood, which helps with clotting.  Normal is greater than 150.  We will transfuse more platelets if he gets lower than 30.
Co-Ags (PT,APTT) - These numbers tell us how fast he clots.

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