Day 13 - New Haircuts... :)
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| My new haircut! |
Patrick noticed that his hair was getting a little thinner, so (in preparation for it falling out entirely), he decided to get haircuts. Ryan looks awesome, and if his hair does fall out, it won't be as shocking. They also got to go over to the apartment, where Ryan helped Patrick set up the TV and Xbox... Things are coming together, and the docs seem very pleased with how he is doing. They are 'training' Patrick and trying to coordinate plans for when they discharge him to the apartment.
The doctors also got back some good news on similar cases to Ryan. They were concerned with the complications due to the fungal infections and perhaps concerns with diabetes and the pancreas or issues with the kidneys. It seems that the cases they have looked into with bad results (i.e. someone doesn't survive), they look nothing like Ryan. There were other circumstances and other issues, and they are now much more positive on his outlook (not that they were ever NOT positive, they just worried...)
One little addition, they did find cancer cells in his spinal fluid during his spinal tap, (albeit a very small number), and because of the paralysis on the side of his face a few weeks ago, and because T-cell A.L.L. is hard to treat if it doesn't work the first time, they want to use radiation therapy on his brain. This will ensure that IF any leukemia exist in his brain, it's killed off. They won't do the radiation until the end of treatment (for about 2 weeks after the next 8-10 months), but we are now prepared for it.
We got some RBC today, because his numbers were really low. But they are really happy with how he's responding. All looks good and we are talking about what to do when we are discharged. Patrick assures me that he is doing really well (a little tired, but really good)! Yea!
Thank you all for the prayers and good thoughts!
Blasts - (not checking this every day anymore)
ANC - 286 (yes this is really low, which means the chemo is really kicking in)
Hematocrit - 20.5 (we got blood today)
Hemoglobin - 7.2
RBC - 2.36
WBC - 0.6
Creatine - 0.4
Glucose - 92
Platelets - 43 (Will get more tonight or tomorrow)
PT - 19.3
APTT - 60
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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