Good Update

 Good news!  I think we are done with tests for now!  The eye doc came in and dialated his eyes which made him really mad cause he was asleep, but he let her examine them and there is no evidence of fungus in his eyes, a little hemmorage she said so they want to see him next time we come down for clinic, but she said that is common with such low platelets and to just make sure and call if he complains about his eyes.  His lip looks better and better!  I think it will heal up pretty quick now.

 The child life specialist brought in some I Spy books and he sat on my lap and we read them while he got his neupogen shot.  He was still really mad about it, but recovered quicker because of the book.  I told him he has to get a lot of pokies and so now that he knows he is resigned to it and not totally mad every time he sees the IV cart roll in...although he is still mad.  He is feeling much better right now than he has since we got to the hospital, he is talkative and laughing at the nurse and playing xbox.  It is SO good to see him like this!  Part of it is the oxycodone he is on, but he is definitely starting to feel better too! Yay!

 He held really still for his echocardiogram to see if his heart has fungus on it, we don't have results yet from that.

And a cancer kid and his mommy came to visit and bring Ty some fun stuff to do.  We didn't get to see them cause Ty was getting his eyes checked at the time, but it was really nice of them to bring Ty some presents. 
I talked to the oncologist and she said she wants him to be fever free for at least a couple of days before she will let us go home, and they want the cultures to be completed and have negative results.  It takes 48 hours for culture results.  So we are looking at about 4 or 5 more days here if he continues to improve.
It will take several weeks for the fungus to completely clear from his lungs but that treatment we can do at home and then we would probably do another CT scan in about 4 weeks to see how that is progressing.  I also talked to the infectious disease person again today and he said it is pretty common to have central line infections and they can cause a person to be very sick which is why they got us down here and took it out quick.  They said the cultures drawn from the port came back positive for yeast, but the cultures drawn peripherally didn't so they think the yeast infection originated in the port, and even though it spread to the lungs he should improve well now that the port is out.  The fact that it isn't in the eyes, brain, belly, and sinuses is good news.  I read online that systemic fungal infections cause about 25% of the infection related deaths in patients with Leukemia so we are really lucky that they found it and are getting rid of it quickly.  Something that was pretty scary for a couple of days there is now having us count our blessings again and thankful for such good doctors and nurses.
So for now we just wait out the test results and see if his fever stays away.

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I found this video below on Youtube and it is an awesome explanation of childhood cancer funding.  Please watch and visit their website at http://www.makenoise4kids.org/index2.php

A little bit more about the video: Joe Morton discusses the lack of research funding for childhood cancers. Help us make some noise and fund the cure research.
-- Produced by the Make Some Noise Foundation in memory of Jordan Plauschinat, Brady Wells, Sam Hutchinson, Max Mikulak, Jackson Schneider, Ricky James, Kayleigh Banfalvy, Brian Ernst, Paige Peterson, Willem Bolan, and all the children we have lost to childhood cancer. Thank you to Nonna's of Florham Park NJ for allowing us to film in your restaurant. Thank you to Joe Morton for sharing his talent and gracious friendship with the foundation, to Jeffrey Kubach for his skills as producer/editor, to Shore Fire Studios for their kind assistance, and to all those kind and patient souls who participated in this video. We truly appreciate the noise you help make.

Counts for the day April 30:  WBC .8 up a little, RBC 3.83 up a little, HGB 11.2 up a little, HCT 33.2 up, Platelets 74 down a little, ANC 0.1 same.  Fungal culture findings from port: Candida albicans