Monday, March 5, 2012

They're baaaack!

Grant went to the clinic today for a regular visit. His ANC was 2690! I guess the boost they gave him worked. Dr. Heym said that by this time that was an accurate number and his bone marrow was working the way it needed too. Otherwise, the GCSF shot would have worked temporarily but then they would be back down. So today he got chemo in his port, a spinal tap, and he will begin steroids and restart oral chemo tonight. We are back on track for now. Although, his oral chemo will start back at half doses. He will go back to the clinic in 2 weeks to reevaluate. Also, Dr. Heym told him he could return to school tomorrow. Yeah! He was happy about that, especially since Spring Break is next week. He really wants to thank his class for the Get Well card. I just can't say enough how proud I am of him and how strong and brave he is. God is good and faithful and Grant trusts in that. Thank you for all your prayers!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Power of Persuasion

WE ARE HOME! However, Grant's ANC is 0. It was 25 yesterday and Dr. Heym told us he was tired of seeing Grant in the hospital, so if it was anything but 0, he could go home today. The nurses would not look at me this morning when they told me that it was 0. Unbelievable!
When Dr. Heym came in, I told him he had to send us home. I couldn't stay there another day. They had stopped his fluids and antibiotics. And they were only taking his vitals every 8 hours. I promised to take his temperature every 8 hours if he would just send us home. He ended up giving him a dose of some kind of growth hormone that is used in treating other types of cancers to help boost his ANC. All of his other counts had recovered. So, he is basically homebound (way better than hospital bound) and is still at a VERY HIGH risk for infection. If he gets any kind of fever, we have to call and go back in. Please pray for protection and that his body can recover and fight off anything it needs to. So happy to be home!
He will go to clinic for his regularly scheduled visit on Monday and this one happens to be a spinal tap. He will still get the spinal, Vincristine, and start steroids regardless of his counts.

This is a picture of him putting the beads from his hospital stay on his Beads of Courage necklace. Each color or type of bead represents a part of his treatment.