Day 267 - Slowly finding ourselves again

     We've been making small strides lately, but things are ever so slowly getting back to normal for Evan and to a lesser degree the entire family.  There has been the reduction in medicines, improved eating (although still not ideal), returning to school and finally an immune system healthy enough to begin going back out into public.  Over the last week we've had the chance to go out to dinner as a family for the first time in months.  Cristy took Nolan and him to Chuck E. Cheese today and I have plans to take the boys to the movies this weekend.  This might not seem like much to most, but to us it's a breath of fresh air.  It gives us something to look forward to and sometimes that's all we need to keep pushing forward.

Enjoying a dinner on the town.

     This morning Cristy got a call back from the hospital with Evan's blood counts from his Wednesday check-up.  She was on the go and wasn't able to write all the numbers down, but the one figure she remembered was he has a 9.5 ANC.  This is a very healthy value, especially considering he's been through a few rounds of chemo as part of Interim Maintenance.  During Evan's session tomorrow Cristy is going to inquire if this number is elevated due to a hyper-active bone marrow or if it's possibly related to on-going infections.

Playing at Chuck E Cheese with Cristy and his brother.

     Evan's appointment yesterday with the ID doctor didn't yield much useful information.  We were asked to slightly modify the timing of his Keflex medications.  Nothing ground breaking mind you, but she feels we might get better coverage.  Evan's skin is still more red than I'd care for and we've noticed various sores.  This is another topic Cristy plans to discuss with the medical team tomorrow.  We're meeting with the orthopedic surgeon next Wednesday and there is an MRI that still needs to be scheduled to re-check his leg, hip and back for infections.

Working with a standing bicycle during PT.

     Tomorrow Evan will receive what I presume to be an increased dosage of Methotrexate, IVIG and Vincristine.  We'll monitor him closely over the next few days.  Historically he hasn't had many issues with chemotherapy, but he has been napping a bit more lately.  I'll try to get another update posted sometime next week.

Capping the day off with Chuck E.

Evan decided to sneak in one night to crash with daddy.