A Little Better

Grant had his clinic visit on Monday to recheck his blood counts. They came up...a little. They are supposed to be at 750 for him to restart his chemo. His fell short. However, Dr. Heym decided to go ahead and restart his oral chemos at half doses. He will go back for his regular visit in 2 weeks.

He has been wearing a mask in public places. He told me the other day, "I wish I could start taking my chemo again cause I'm tired of wearing this mask." It's a sad day when your kid wants to take chemo. :)

Not So Routine

Grant had his routine clinic visit this morning. His blood counts came back very low, so low that he can not continue treatment until they come back up. Dr. Heym took him off his oral chemos for the next 2 weeks. He did get his vincristine through his port today and will start his 5 days of steroids tonight. The steroids should boost his counts unless there is something else going on that is lowering them.
He has had a cough for the last 2 weeks. He has had trouble with coughs throughout this maintenance phase of treatment. Dr. Heym put him on allergy medication, which seemed to help for a while. However, he can not figure out why it keeps coming back. Grant sounds terrible, but every time we have him checked, they tell us his lungs sound clear. Even the ER doctor last time he was admitted for pneumonia told us that his lungs sounded clear. Obviously, they weren't. All that to say, Dr. Heym also referred us to a pulmonologist today just to have somebody more specialized see if they can find anything. Grant should have an appointment sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Also, as many of you have noticed, he has been breaking out in a rash on his face regularly. It comes and goes, but we can't narrow down what is causing it. Dr. Heym said today that he believes it is a side effect of one of the chemos he is taking. If so, hopefully it will fully clear up over the next 2 weeks while he is off his medication.
Please be in prayer for Grant that all of this turns out to just be a bump in the road and we can continue treatment as usual. Also, please pray for Rudy & I to have wisdom as we care for Grant. We will keep you posted....

Camp Sanguinity 2011

Today was a big day for Grant..... and me. Grant went to an all day camp sponsored by Cook Children's. They took about 20 4&5 year olds to a youth camp for the day. The hospital sponsored a week long camp for older kids, but the preschoolers get to go for a day. I dropped him off at the hospital where he boarded an enormous coach bus. Then, he spent the day boating, swimming, singing, crafting and he even touched a snake! He looked exhausted when he got off that bus at 5:00.

My little guy is growing up! He was so excited to go this morning. But, when we got there, he was a little hesitant to leave. I wanted to cry my eyes out, but then he would have been worried about me. :) And listening to him talk about his day made me realize even more that he is just like me - good and bad. :) The way he explained his experiences of the day could have been me talking 25 years ago. I'm so glad that we both overcame our fears today and Grant had a great time at camp!