Day 21 - No Hair!!

Ryan decided overnight that his hair was itching and annoying and he didn't want to deal with it falling out anymore.  So, he asked Patrick to cut it all off.  A little traumatic, but expected and I'm glad Ryan got to decide when to cut it off.  He was really happy that it was gone.  The dark spots on his head are the only places where he still had hair.  Patrick is going to get some shaving cream and shave it a little closer tonight.  He is very happy with his new look!

This afternoon, he had another spinal tap to get his second to the last dose of chemo for this phase.  He woke up slowly from anesthesia, so Patrick took the opportunity to run over to the apartment and get a little more laundry finished.  He also had a few other errands (pick up a new toy for Ryan, etc)

Heading into the procedure room for our spinal tap...

Ryan's feeling better and he was able to eat tonight (for the first time in a while).  The nurses said that he had a great afternoon, sleeping most of it.  But his lab numbers are getting stronger (we actually had white blood cells and our ANC came up from 0), so all looks good.

Today's chemo was his last regular chemo for this phase.  He will get one more dose in his spine next week, and then this phase is over.  :)

Allen's Graduation is tomorrow.  I hope I can get through it without too many tears.  Thank you to Sean and Jenny for the awesome shrimp pasta tonight (and the key lime pie!!)

Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts!!

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(All blood cultures are coming back negative)
Blasts - (not checking this every day anymore)
ANC - 10 (not 0, so that's good!)
Hematocrit - 23.5
Hemoglobin - 8.2
RBC - 2.69
WBC - 0.2
Creatine - 0.3
Glucose - 109
Platelets - 37
PT - 17.9
APTT - 46
Bilirubin (Direct) -
Bilirubin (Indirect) -
Bilirubin (Total) -
ALT -

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.
Bilirubin (Direct/Indirect/Total) - Bilirubin tells us how well the liver is working.  Normally, these numbers are less than 1, which is good.  However, when the liver starts to be under stress, they may go up.  Total Bilirubin is the Conjugated (Direct) + Unconjugated (Indirect).  The doctors said these numbers might come up, as his liver is trying to process all the meds we are giving him.
ALT/AST - these are liver numbers, letting us know how much stress the liver is under.  Normal range is between 10-50.