Day 9 - Still going strong...

Sundays in the hospital are usually nice, calm, boring days, and today was no exception.  Ryan's numbers are still doing great, and he is feeling really good.  He decided against the trip up to the terrace today, which may mean he's a little tired.  Or it may mean he's like every other boy and just wants to watch his movies and play with his new Legos!  He's also getting a little irritated that Patrick get's to leave and he doesn't.  This usually means that it's time to go...

Patrick headed back to the apartment to put together more furniture and do more laundry, while Ryan just hung out.

We will see how tomorrow goes, when the team is back and can make some decisions.  We'd like to have him get out of the hospital and into the apartment, just to limit the number of people he interacts with.  Although his numbers imply that he is not really immuno-suppressed, we would like to keep him as contained as possible.  And you always sleep better when alarms and pumps are not beeping off... ;)

Loving his new blanket and Legos!
I am getting myself mentally ready for our BPA trip to Orlando on Tuesday.  I've already checked the flights from Orlando to Seattle, if necessary, and we are lucky to have a chaperone in case I need to jump a flight.  I'm really proud of our team, and I'm so grateful that I can finish the journey with them.  A small amount of 'mom guilt', but Patrick has assured me that everything is going well.

We really love that Ryan is bored right now... I do realize that it won't always be that way, but we are grateful for any good days.

Thank you all for the prayers and good thoughts!!





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Blasts - 0
ANC - 1539  
Hematocrit - 26.3
Hemoglobin - 8.8
WBC - 1.9
Creatine - 0.5
Glucose - 85
Platelets - 33


Description of lab numbers, in laymans 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)
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.
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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