Day 14 - Spinal Tap and Chemo

Hi mom!
Ryan's numbers are getting much worse, but apparently that is totally expected.  ANC and WBC are down to almost 0, which terrifies me, but Patrick said all is good.  This is what is supposed to happen.

Ryan got his 'poke in the back' (spinal tap) and then his Day 14 chemo meds. 

Amazingly, they still wanted him to take the afternoon off and head over to the apartment.  Ryan got to help Patrick set up the Xbox and then play for a few hours.  He is pretty tired (again, totally expected), but still really wants to leave and spend his few hours of freedom at the apartment, being somewhat normal.  They even took a selfie to show me that everything was fine.

The doctors are talking about letting us officially discharge on Monday.  Patrick has been doing 'training' and they are trying to get his electrolytes stabled enough to order TPN for multiple days.  (apparently, all his electrolytes were out of whack today, so they are still working on getting the 'right combination'). 

We had our showcase in Orlando this afternoon, where we were able to see the other projects in Web Applications and other 'virtual' events.  I hope the kids learned something, I know I sure did!  Only 1 more full day in Orlando, before we get to come home to Montana.  (it's amazing how much I miss it!!)

Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts!
 
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Blasts - (not checking this every day anymore)
ANC - 126 (yes this is really low, which means the chemo is really kicking in)
Hematocrit - 22.5 (the H&H are both up a little since we got blood yesterday)
Hemoglobin - 7.7
RBC - 2.54
WBC - 0.4
Creatine - 0.3
Glucose - 107
Platelets - 62 (We got platelets overnight)
PT -  18.4
APTT - 66

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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