Blood Tomorrow

Today was a rough day at the clinic...for me anyway. Things didn't go as smoothly as we hoped and the boys were a little hard to get along with. Grant had to get his noodle reaccessed, which didn't go nearly as well with mom as it did with dad. :) Grant wanted to do the opposite of what was asked of him. He did get another CBC today and will definitely be getting blood tomorrow. His other numbers had gone up and looked better today.

Suuuuper Grant!

It was back to the clinic yesterday. Rudy took the day off to take Grant to the clinic b/c I needed to work. He said that Grant did really well and did little more than say "ouch" when he got his noodle. When we went today, everyone kept saying how great he did yesterday. I think Rudy would like to take the credit, but I had a little talk with Grant before he went. I told him to be extra good for Daddy at the clinic. So, I'm sure that's why he did so great. ;)

His numbers are going down and his ANC was already down to the high risk level. This was to be expected so no surprises. We are anticipating that Grant will need a blood transfusion on Friday. He will get another CBC when he goes for treatment tomorrow.

About the pictures: The capes the boys are wearing were a gift and the boys think they are so fun. Capes make them run really fast! They wore them to the clinic one day and were a hit. We are so thankful for all the kind gestures, meals, and especially prayers we are receiving. We appreciate each one!

Daddy is giving Grant a haircut in the backyard. We bought clippers for home b/c I am cutting Rudy's hair about once a week. What hair Grant does have was getting long and frizzy and needed to be cut. Grant thought it was funny.

Maribel is the nurse that takes Grant's vitals at the clinic every day that we go. She is such a sweet lady and is so great with Grant. When she isn't working with another patient, she comes to the playroom and plays with the kids. Grant loves her and talks about her a lot. All of the nurses really put a lot of effort into knowing the patients.

How do we get rid of this wookemia?

We drove by a McDonalds and Grant said he wanted to play on that playground. So I explained to him, as I have before, that he could not play on those playgrounds right now. They were dirty and he might get sick b/c he has leukemia. He thought for a second and asked if he could play on it when he got all better. When I said yes, he went back to thinking for a while. Then he said, with much determination, "How do we get rid of this wookemia?" It was so cute! That's why we've been going to the clinic all week!
Today went very smoothly and he got to leave his noodle at the clinic. The only thing he didn't like was having to take the "stickys" off. But, it was ok b/c if it meant he got to go swimming. We've already done that and plan to do more this weekend b/c he has to get his noodle again on Tuesday.
Grant has handled all the chemo this week very well. One of the nurses came out when we were still in the waiting room this morning and was telling us that the doctor that saw him yesterday was commenting on how well he was doing to everyone in the clinic. She was so surprised that he had so much chemo this week and still felt so good.

Back to the Clinic

Grant has started treatment again. Yesterday, he went to the clinic and got his port accessed. One of the drugs that he got requires him to be "perfectly" hydrated. This means that they started him on fluids as soon as he got his noodle. Then, we had to wait for him to get to a specific level of hydration. He was receiving fluids and we were pushing juice. And then we have to get him to urinate in a urinal so they can test it. We had to get him to do this 3 times before we were at the right level. Then he gets his chemo through the port for an hour. THEN, he has to be hydrated for another 4 hours after that. He also received another drug through his port. It was a long day. We got there at 9 and left at 5.
It started a little rough b/c Grant was out of practice getting his port accessed. I think it was a combination of being scared and just figuring out what makes people react. He through a huge fit and put up a big fight. It took 4 of us to get his port accessed. When we got home, we had a talk about it. He told me it didn't hurt, he just didn't want a poke. He is going to act like a big boy next time. He will not have to be accessed again until next week, b/c he is bringing his noodle home with him. We went back today and will go tomorrow and Friday as well. At those visits, he is getting a 15 min. IV push. But, in reality, we are there about 2 hours. He had a CBC yesterday and all of his counts came back really really good.

Fireworks!

Our neighborhood has a fireworks show that we can walk to. It's really nice and Grant loves fireworks. As you can see, Trent spent a lot of his time hiding in Daddy's arms. He did end up watching them toward the end. The fireworks show was pretty much the extent of our 4th of July celebration. Hope you all had a good 4th.

School Visit

Grant and Trent got to go for a visit to see their Mother's Day Out class today. I gave Grant the choice of going first thing in the morning to play on the playground with them or go have lunch with them. He chose lunch. I told him that maybe we could go get McDonald's to take for lunch. He did not want McDonald's. He wanted mommy to pack his lunch. It was kind of cute. He wanted everything exactly how he used to do it. So, he took a peanut butter and honey sandwich, goldfish and grapes. He also took the treats that we had planned to take on his birthday.

He had such a good time. While all the other kids were choosing their seats, he was just standing there holding his lunch box. They said "come sit down, sit by me, come eat by me." Grant said "I have to wait for my mom to clean the table." He enjoyed it in his own special Grant way. He wasn't very talkative, but he was listening and watching everyone else. He sounded so grown up when he would talk. When we were leaving, I asked him if he had fun at school today and he got the biggest grin on his face and said Yeeees!

Then we went swimming and both Grant and Trent are little fish. They really love the water and are doing a great job progressing and learning new things. We are just glad this is something Grant can still do.

Great Numbers!

Grant went to the clinic for a CBC today. The nurses were able to make an exception to the rules for Grant. If he is just getting a CBC, they are supposed to take the blood from a vein in his arm. But last time they had to do that, it was very traumatic. Grant was screaming and I couldn't really hold him still. He was asking for them to do it in his tummy/port. So, today they just accessed his port and took the blood from there. It went much better. We were just checking his numbers to make sure they were on their way up so that he could start chemo again on Tuesday. We also needed to know if he needed any transfusions. His numbers looked amazing!! God is so good to answer our prayers and we appreciate all of you being prayer warriors for Grant. His ANC was 140 on Friday and he got 2 doses of chemo. Today it was 3390!! His other numbers were up too.
The doctor who saw him today said we could have started his next round of chemo today b/c he had already made numbers. However, I told the doctor that Grant had been complaining of pain when he urinated for the last 24 hours. They took a urine sample and ran some tests. The results they got in the office showed blood in his urine. There are a few reasons this could have happened, so they are sending a sample off for more testing. He may have to go on an antibiotic at home for a few days. But, this should not prevent him from starting chemo next Tuesday.
As a side note, Grant also went to the podiatrist today. I told him her name (Dr. Crane) so when she came in the room I said "there's Dr. ...." and waited for him to finish. He thought for a second and said "Dr. Foot!". :) Pretty funny. She said she could see improvement from his last visit and he got new orthodics for his shoes. She commented on the fact that he was wearing flip flops which are terrible for him, no support. But, I had dressed him in flip flops b/c everytime he goes to the clinic he has to take his shoes off to be weighed and measured. We just can't win. ;)