Another Clinic Day...Another Month Down

 Clinic today!  We always have to have a race, I go up the stairs and they go up the elevator... somehow they always win

He found an awesome superhero coloring page in the waiting room  

Good news!  He finally made it to 40lbs!!  Weight 18.2kg, Height 101cm 

Our favorite therapy dog came to visit and Ty got to feed him a snack.  We love Elliot and we admire his owner who is very dedicated to helping these kids.  Today was back poke day where they take a little spinal fluid out and put a little chemo in.  That is to make sure he doesn't relapse in his central nervous system which can be a problem with A.L.L.  He fought the sedation today and never really went to sleep.  His onc said he might be outgrowing his dose... he's had the same dose of Ketamine and Versed since he was diagnosed.  They will probably up it a little next time.  He did great though.  I was a little worried cause we let them take a little extra spinal fluid for a study on kids with Traumatic brain injuries.  They needed spinal fluid from kids who haven't had one so they can compare it to the spinal fluid from kids who have so they can study markers in the fluid that might indicate why/how some kids recover and some kids don't.  It increased the risk a little for headaches but he didn't get them so whew.  We are happy to be involved with research any time we can.  Tyson is alive in part because lots and lots of kids and parents were willing to allow research.  

Ahhhh and he finally gets his hangabur topping.  He only likes the top of the hamburger, and it has to be from Arctic Circle...all the other delicious stuff in that box just sat there while he napped the rest of the trip home.

Counts for my records: ANC 1000 (perfect! that is suppressed just enough which means all of his oral chemo doses stay the same) WBC 3.1, RBC 4.04, HGB 11.9, HCT 35.8, PLTS 257

For curiosity sake I'll post the normal ranges:  ANC 1500-8500 , WBC 5.5-15.5, RBC 3.9-5.3, HGB 11.5-13.5, HCT 34-40, PLTS 150-400

It was a good day! Thank you for dinner!! 

We are so sad for a cancer friend who has already fought cancer twice and just found out she has it again.  That seems to happen so much!  It really makes us reflect on life and what is most meaningful and important.

We are also praying for one of Ty's favorite nurses at Primary Children's who was just diagnosed with breast cancer.  The cancer mommas are teaming up to do a fundraiser for her and we hope it is on a day that we can go down for it. Maybe we will even see some of our Utah friends and relatives there!  That will be fun. We are really hoping she can beat it without a lot of complications...we couldn't imagine clinic without her!

Thanks for checking in! Ty is doing so well, his side effects are relatively mild and he is a normal 5 year old for the most part.  I banned video games for the month of March so he has been outside playing with neighbor friends, riding his bike, and totally wearing himself out!  He is still loving preschool and tumbling and we will register him for kindergarten soon!  Life is good!