Day 22 - Tired but hanging in there

Ryan had an okay day... His back is really hurting from the spinal tap yesterday.  He is getting oxycodone for the pain, but we are trying to keep his doses low.  He's also really tired, from the chemo.  He's in good spirits and is still playing with his legos and writing about his legos (he wants Mrs. Hansen and his friends to be proud of him for his writing).

We had Allen's graduation today, which we were able to Skype with Ryan and Patrick.  It was also nice for Ryan to be able to see his friends!


I'm still planning on flying out there next Thursday (I can't wait!) after the kids finish school.  Allen's graduation was great and we really appreciated all the family and friends that came up to the Grandparents house for the party!

Thank you all for the continued prayers and good thoughts.  (they are obviously working!)

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(All blood cultures are coming back negative)
Blasts - (not checking this every day anymore)
ANC - 37 (not 0, so that's good!)
Hematocrit - 24.9
Hemoglobin - 8.5
RBC - 2.79
WBC - 0.2
Creatine - 0.3
Glucose - 124
Platelets - 46

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.