"What we expected"

Good morning,

I'm pleased and relieved to report that after the tooth fiasco of late last week, this past week was pretty uneventful. Dane's mouth healed well and he didn't experience any infection issues so you could say we "dodged another bullet" in his journey. He has been feeling great and like last week, attended school Monday - Thursday (full days) without any challenges. We had parent-teacher conferences on Thursday and as much as I intuitively know he is not struggling even though he has missed a lot of school the past four months, hearing that he is doing "great" from his teachers is welcome news. He is apparently not completely co-operative at school when it comes to completing tasks (can't imagine that from our Dane, yeah right) and is quite chatty with his friends (they like to catch up when he's back), however these issues are more manageable now that he is there more frequently. His big sister is a little "scholar" so all in all, the news from school was excellent this past week.

Dane had his one visit to the clinic yesterday and as we expected, his neutrophil levels were not high enough to begin the next round of treatment referred to as Interim Maintenance (IM). That said, his white count doubled from last week and his neutrophils climbed from .08 to .35, but they need to get to .76 to start IM. If the last cycle is any indication, he should likely be ready to start this coming Friday, May 8. As we also expected, his hemoglobin and platelet counts were super - 110 for hemoglobin (2nd highest it has been in four months) and 492 for platelets (his top score thus far). When his regular oncologist heard about the teeth incident, I think she was very relieved his platelet counts were so good or the bleeding could have been much worse. When he is in between treatment rounds, the effects of his normal hemoglobin score are very evident to us, as he demonstrates normal Dane energy "pre-leukemia". His attitude and behavior at times are still definitely issues and we are working on reminding him that having leukemia does not give him a license to be a brat (cutting to the chase and for lack of a more eloquent label).

The doctor gave her blessing a few weeks ago for him to play 8 year old soccer so that starts this Tuesday. It's good timing given he is feeling great and it will be a joy to watch him out there with his school friends. Ashley has opted out of soccer this year but instead is playing spring 3X3 ringette and her season starts tomorrow morning bright and early. I am not coaching her team, as I actually had the good sense (for once in my life) to realize that was taking on too much right now.

I for one am ecstatic May has arrived and perhaps we are starting to experience some more consistent weather and sunny days. May 5 will be four months since Dane's diagnosis and at times it really does seem like a life time ago. When he was first hospitalized, it was the dead of winter, the days were short and cold and the baby bump was just that - a bump. We are now officially in the middle of spring, outdoor time has arrived and the bump is hopefully only a week or so away from turning into a little person. Although some days are long and still very hard, it seems for the time being we have found a way to effectively live with Dane's leukemia. We wouldn't have survived the gruelling winter without the caring and support of our family and many great friends - thank you again.

In an entry way back in late January, I let folks know that my best friend Jodi and her ten year- old son Noah are running in the Cops for Cancer half marathon relay. The run is tomorrow morning and we will be at the finish line to cheer them on and to say thanks for running as the "Dashing for Dane" team. If you had thought of making a donation to this cause but misplaced the link, I've inserted it below. Between on-line and cheque donations, the two of them have raised over $2300 thus far. They have already exceeded their combined goal and once the final numbers are in, I will post the total in an upcoming blog entry.

https://www.runningroom.com/dashboard/donations/index.php?raceId=4133&eventId=14337&memberId=AGgLNQdmVzRcNlZm&item=8&guest=1

Unless there is some big news in the next few days, aka Baby "H's" arrival, I'll post an update sometime after Dane's appointment next Friday.

Have a good week everyone.

Janie and Dirk