Change of Plans

Just wanted to let everyone know...we got to Little Rock yesterday and Brayden's blood results came back that his ANC counts have dropped and he's Neutropenic again. He wasn't healthy enough to be admitted and begin the next round of chemo. So we got to drive back home. It was a very long day and Brayden was bummed a little. After dealing with all the anxiety of getting the Port accessed again, the numbing cream worked great and he did awesome. Thank goodness, because that will be a regular occurrence for a VERY long time for him. Also, the PICC line is still in so mom got to sweat it out again in doing another of the weekly dressing change, but it worked great.

Say a prayer his counts recover at least above the neutropenic line. This is when I get the most nervous. Last Thursday he was pushing 1000 (which is so much safer) and he was only at 220 yesterday. So he's most definitely in isolation. His Dr. said this is very common and would have been surprised if Brayden DID start treatment yesterday, since no one starts this round on time while recovering their counts from the effect of the aggressive chemo med (the ugly one, we call it) Ara-C. He also made us laugh when he said he's never given a kiddo that much Ara-C and had them still have hair. He was amazed and glad to see Brayden and Brayden did a good job of being his goofy self when he came in the room, pretending to be a Dr.

We'll check his counts again locally on Friday and from that point know whether or not we'll travel back to Little Rock Monday. At that point, they'll check counts again before they start, just to be sure, then he'll go through the sedation for a spinal and removing his PICC line, then admitted and administered the High-Dose Methotrexate and observed. We've been told he'll be in for at least 3 days when that happens.

Thanks for the prayers. We'll let everyone know what we find out. In the interim, we're again making lists of things Brayden wants to do when his counts recover. Yes, he can't wait to see the new G-Force movie. He's been giggling at those previews for a while. He laughed at Ice-Age, but it made me realize my baby is growing up and if it hadn't been for his friends there, I'm not sure if he would have enjoyed it as much. Take care...