Day 23 - Trying to stay positive, but we're really bored.

Throat still hurts, but I'll take Doritos? 

Ryan's back still hurts from the spinal tap last Friday, but he's trying to stay strong.  He is so bored, as it's been a month that he's been in the hospital.  He has his tablet and his TV and his Legos, but I'm sure a change in scenery would be nice right now.  Patrick headed over to the apartment to get some work done, which means the nurses hung out with Ryan for part of the day.  Still, between the steroids making him kind of cranky, and the boredom, he's getting tired of being there.  He was a little annoyed that Patrick only brought Legos and Doritos, but forgot the chicken and French fries... Ahh, the typical 13 year old... never satisfied... (just kidding!)

The doctors have implied that they are going to keep us inpatient until the 30th, which is when the antibiotics for the infection will finish.  The big day will be Friday, when he gets his last spinal tap for this phase, and we can find out how many leukemia cells are left in his system (hopefully 0!)

Today was my first 'do nothing' day in a very long time... I woke up late.  Then I hung out with my mom for a few hours.  We cooked one of the frozen meals that I was given for dinner, and now I'm heading back to bed.  I did no laundry or cleaning or dishes, and it felt awesome.  :)  I'm still planning my trip out to Seattle this week (might try flying stand-by to cut the cost).  And Connor and Katie are SOOOO ready for school to be done!

Thank you all for the prayers and good thoughts... We're getting through this!

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(All blood cultures are coming back negative)
Blasts - (not checking this every day anymore)
ANC - 0 (this is expected)
Hematocrit - 22.5
Hemoglobin - 7.8
RBC - 2.56
WBC - < 0.2
Creatine - 0.2
Glucose - 129
Platelets - 41
PT - 17.7
APTT - 56

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.