"Watching the counts closely"

It's been a week since my last entry so I figured I better get my typing fingers in gear and post an update. Here's the scoop on what's been happening since last Tuesday ...

"New van on autopilot to HSC" - We got our acts in order and purchased a new van (which we picked up last Monday) and it has been on autopilot to Health Sciences Centre ever since. Dane had visits Tuesday - Friday last week to receive doses of a particular chemo medicine, I had to see my OB on Saturday and we were back there yesterday for his weekly exam. By the time the next few months are up, I will know every parking spot off by heart and will be able to make the drive with my eyes closed (ok, for everyone's safety I'll try to keep them open).

"Pain medicine required" - Dane has been suffering off and on for the past while with nasty leg pains in the evening and overnight. The oncologist is not sure whether they are a side effect of the chemo drugs or "growing pains", however they are very painful and interrupt everyone's sleep. They peaked one night last week so Dane has been prescribed morphine to help with the pain (he can't take Tylenol because it masks fevers). The last two nights he has had the pains so we've been applying heat and giving him a very small dose of morphine. It seems to be helping ease the pain much quicker and that's a relief to all of us.

"Baby on track" - My OB did a fetal assessment of baby "H" on Saturday and although I'm still a little small for 34 weeks, our little gal is growing just fine. He anticipates she will be slightly smaller than Ashley and Dane were at birth, but still around 7 lbs. I've been practicing my negotiation skills on him and assuming I don't go into labour on my own before about 38 weeks, he is prepared to "help me" deliver this baby at a time that is conducive to Dane's treatment schedule. Given we only have about four weeks to go, we are starting to get the house more in order for her arrival.

"Watching the counts closely" - Dane had his exam, chemo and bloodwork done yesterday and not to the doctor's surprise, his hemoglobin and platelet counts are quite low right now (his neutrophils are holding well at .75). This is to be expected given where he is in the treatment cycle, however these two counts are as low as they have been since he was initially hospitalized. We were not scheduled to go back to the clinic tomorrow, but now we are so another blood sample can be taken. His hemoglobin was 73 yesterday (normal is over 115) and his platelets were 16 (normal is between 100 - 500). If his hemoglobin drops below 70 and the platelets below 10, he will receive a blood transfusion tomorrow. This would only be his second transfusion since diagnosis and the oncologist told me yesterday that he has done "remarkably well" thus far. She and I both looked for wood to knock on in her office, as we don't want to jinx how great our strong and brave son Dane is doing fighting this nasty leukemia. He handled his IV and two leg injections like an absolute pro - he never shed a tear or panicked one bit. Everyone - the nurses, doctor, child life specialist and me - told him how proud he should be of himself. By his demeanor, I think he was very proud and that was a rewarding moment for mom.

I will post an update Friday to let folks know the outcome of his bloodwork tomorrow. In the meantime, take care everyone - Janie and Dirk