Clinic today

Ty is still doing awesome!! 

 He still likes to take a few breaks in the day and sit on my lap and watch tv for 'snuggles' but he has enough energy to tackle his brother the rest of the time

 Lots and lots of hair!  See his port? it sticks way out this time

He had a CBC again the week of Thanksgiving and his counts were still great! I was surprised that his ANC was the same as the week before: Nov 19th, WBC 2.9, HGB 11.7, HCT 35.4, PLT 269, ANC 1400.  Since his counts were good we had a great Thanksgiving with lots of cousins!

 Slurping his Icee & playing DS on our way to PCMC for his clinic appt today...He played Madagascar on the playstation again just like last time, and just like last time didn't want to leave when we were all done. He just got a CBC and Vincristine today.  I didn't take any pics this time, it is so routine it seems like I take the same pics every time, throwing coins in the fountain and playing video games.

 We went to ICS for a few after his appt to visit another Idaho Fighter who is inpatient right now. It was fun to visit for a few minutes even though Tyson kept whispering in my ear "can we go now?"  He didn't like being there very much. 

We also got to see one of our favorite ICS nurses Kathy.  Ty had her at diagnosis and when he was 'in' for his fungus.  My oldest knows her from camp Hobe and calls her 'Eisenhowa' cause she has an awesome accent.
His counts today surprised us a little because he was doing so well: WBC 2.2, HCT 33.4, PLT 259, ANC 600!  So they lowered his dose of 6mp (oral chemo) from 1/2 pill 7 days a week to 1/2 pill 4 days a week but kept him on his one pill of methotrexate a week. 

His rash hasn't been as bad lately and since he starts steroids today for his 5 day stint he shouldn't have a rash for a few days.  I was right, his doc said steroids are great for rashes so that's why it cleared up last month.  See the brown on his front teeth? Those are calcifications I think they are called, he bumped them when they were growing in and it caused brown thingys.  I took this right before we went into the dentist to have the big one fixed along with a chipped filling.  He got a pokie prize.
We've had a couple of coughers in the house lately so hopefully we can keep the germs at bay while Ty's counts go up a little hopefully... now that he will be on a little less chemo. 
Thanks for dinner!  It is so nice, (especially when we have these appointments later in the day so he can still go to preschool), that I don't have to worry about what my kids are going to have for dinner.  They love chicken noodle soup!
 Thanks for checking in!  Life gets a little more normal each day and I get a little less crazy...hmmmm that might be why some germs made their way into our house though, maybe I need to go germ freak again.
Oops...I forgot to put his height and weight... 99cm!!  he is growing!!  and 17.7kg which is almost 39 lbs!!

CBC

Ty is having fun with the snow, he built a snowman all by himself the other day...

One good thing about not growing much..he gets to wear the same snowsuit he had last year.

 His week of steroids went pretty well this time.  I was worried about preschool but he seemed to do fine and still enjoyed it.  He didn't want to go to tumbling on Halloween and when we got there he was pretty upset that he was in a costume (it was a costume party).  Steroids seem to enhance every emotion and it also makes him very particular about the way things need to be or should be.  If they aren't that way it is upsetting and hard to process and handle.  They also make him feel kind of crummy.  I convinced him to go with the promise of a silly string prize when he was done and once he was out there he had a lot of fun.   He had a great time at the neighborhood trunk-or-treat at the park, and we even trick-or-treated at a few houses after.  His methotrexate rash (around his mouth) completely cleared up, that must have something to do with steroids cause he still had his pill that week, but the rash didn't come. 

 See no rash!  His eyes always look more sunken when he is on steroids.... and now that he's not on his steroids, sure enough a day after he took his methotrexate pill his rash started to come back...

 It doesn't bother him though so I guess if that's going to be his side effect from his methotrexate pill we'll take it.  It is waaaaay better than most other chemo side effects.  It took me a few tries to get a good shot of his rash...

 

We did a CBC yesterday to see where his counts are since they doubled his 6mp pill dose a couple of weeks ago.  He was a little nervous about his port again, but he did great.  Didn't feel a thing again so hopefully each time he will be less and less nervous about it.  Of course it helped that his home health nurse is awesome.  He's done so well lately that we haven't seen her in a while.  His counts looked great, his ANC is back down close to where it should be so things are looking good. Hopefully it will stay that way, he stays on same doses for now.
We'll do another CBC next week just to make sure he's good to hang with family for Thanksgiving.
 Counts: WBC 3.5, HGB 11.9, HCT 36, PLTS 353, ANC 1400 
Thanks for checking in, good news is boring, but we are having so much fun being boring!