Day 26 - Back is hurting from too many spinal taps...
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| Not really into taking pictures today |
However, Ryan's back is really causing him pain. There is some swelling and what looks like it might be bleeding where he had his spinal tap last Friday. The doctors are going to do an ultrasound tomorrow (Thursday) to make sure that any internal bleeding is minimal, and they are going to hold his blood thinner for a day or two. It does NOT look like an infection or anything that is really a problem, but it's always good to be sure. He has been complaining that it hurts and he doesn't want to lay on it. They've been giving him oxycodone for the pain, but obviously are trying to keep it to a minimum.
In addition, the physical therapist has been working on his atrophy of his muscles. Since he's pretty much been lying in bed for the last month, he is really weak. So, now that his ANC numbers are up, they are trying to get him to walk around more and stand more, to get those muscles stronger.
Today was the other kids last day of class, and we had our cheese steaks at the school with the community. It's always so nice to see everyone! My mom headed back to New Mexico this afternoon; it was such a treat to see her and have her share Allen's graduation with us! And I finally get to head out to Seattle to see Ryan (and Patrick) tomorrow.
Thank you all for your kind words, prayers and good thoughts!
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ANC - 716 (Yea! up from 240 yesterday!)
Hematocrit - 24.4 (up from 19)
Hemoglobin - 8.5
RBC - 2.82
WBC - 0.9 (up from 0.5)
Lymphocytes - 112
Creatine - 0.2
Glucose - 116
Platelets - 47
PT - 17.0
APTT - 48
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.
Yah, that is great news on the right numbers going up, so sorry his back hurting, hopefully they get that under control shortly. He sure is more puffy today then before, poor kid. But all will be better when his mom gives him a hug in person. give Ryan and Patrick an extra hug from me. LUV U all
ReplyDeleteThanks Lois... Yea, we expected the swelling from the steroids (which they should stop here soon, so he can get back to normal). But it still looks funny... ;)
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