Day 140 - Little suprises

     Evan's latest session of chemotherapy has come and gone.  Yesterday he spent the entire day at the clinic for assorted tests, checkups and treatments.  Upon his return he was a little groggy and tired, but overall looked pretty good all things considered.  Evan's latest blood counts looked extremely strong.  In fact, they were so good that Cristy and I both did a double-take and spoke with Evan's primary doctor about them.  Please see the image below:

Updated blood counts.

     For those unfamiliar we typically focus on WBC, RBCs, HGB, Platelets and ANC.  Evan's extremely high WBC and ANC had us a bit worried as we thought it could be a sign of the cancer returning.  Our doctor assured us this is normal due to the steroids.  In addition to killing cancer cells steroids stimulate the bone marrow and sends a signal to release more cells.  If it wasn't so hard on your organs I'd suggest that steroids were a miracle drug.

Killing time between procedures.

     This was a pleasant surprise for me as I assumed his numbers would have taken a hit from the previous session of chemo.  Our doctor indicated it takes 10 - 14 days for blood cells to start dying off and to expect Evan to be much more vulnerable sometime next week.  He also tried to prepare us for the high possibility of fevers returning during this phase.  To minimize this risk and based on Evan's immuno-history (which is not a real word) he received an IVIG treatment yesterday.

The weight gain makes him look much healthier.

     There are some obvious benefits to higher WBC counts, namely Evan's skin and bumps have really started to look better.  Additionally, his weight continues to rise giving him much needed support.  He eventually grew tired of fried rice and we've moved on to chicken, jasmine rice and cucumbers.  I've literally cooked the same chicken and rice combination for the past few evenings.  When he's not eating that cheeseburgers are his food of choice, which is unusual because prior to getting sick he didn't even like burgers.

2nd cheeseburger of the day.

     Today Evan is meeting with the plastic surgeon and having another ECHO done on his heart.  My fingers are crossed that the "infection" or "muscle" that they saw in his heart during the last scan looks better.  Evan's primary doctor was a bit perplexed why his heart would show anything unusual as the drugs he's been on prior to this finding would have had no effect.

     The steroid treatments ended yesterday, but pick back up next week.  With any luck I'll get my happy-go-lucky boy back this weekend and if he's feeling up to it we can do a movie night.  PT is on-going and not much to update on that front.  His legs feel much stronger to me, but there's obviously still a balance issue going on.  We'll continue working with the therapist with the hopes of having him walking again soon.

UPDATE - Cristy: Evan and I had another long day of appointments and waiting today. Evan's follow-up with the plastic surgeon went well. He looked at the incision on his wrist and was pleased with the way it is healing. He advised to put Vitamin E oil on it a few times a day to help with healing and scarring. Otherwise, he said we can mark him off our list of doctors.

As for Evan's ECHO, everything looked good today. His numbers indicating how well his heart is squeezing were higher today than last week. The doctor said the last test just seemed to be a "hiccup", and some slight variations are common. As for the possibility of endocarditis (an infection of the valves), he saw no signs of infection. The spots seen last week appear to just be from the way Evan's mitral valve is formed.

The doctor did suggest Evan see a cardiologist on a regular basis, just to monitor him, and to keep an eye on him should any changes arise or should he end up in the hospital again for any other infections. We go back in January to establish Evan with a cardiologist and get a full exam. It was another long day, but at least we got some good results!