Day 727 - Numbers are picking up

     It's been a few weeks since my last update.  My goal was to get several weeks of counts in to make sure we are trending in the right direction.  I'm happy to report that Evan's blood counts have increased week over week.  I'm going to attempt to show the improvements but, blogspot.com doesn't allow me to create a table, so the formatting may come out malformed depending on your browser.

             5/17          5/23          5/30          6/6

WBC    1.25          1.97          2.12          2.92

HGB     9.1            10.3          11.2          11.9

PLT       72             103           136          171

ANC     .50            .86            .78            1.57

     Evan's numbers on 5/30 were average/below-average for a child going through ALL maintenance chemotherapy, but his 6/6 counts were great.  With his improved numbers Cristy and I have relaxed our bubble-boy mantra.  Cristy took the boys to a cabin community in North Carolina called Pinnacle Falls last week and this week they've both started day camp at Camp Aurora.  We're very grateful for both opportunities afforded to our family as we continue to work through the treatment of this terrible disease.

     If you're not familiar with Camp Aurora it's a day camp, new in Atlanta, available to children battling cancer and their siblings.  It's being held at the Davis Academy in Sandy Springs.  There is an on-staff doctor and nurses from CHoA, which really helps put our minds at ease.  The doctor acting as Medical Director is very familiar with Evan and this also reassures Cristy and I that Evan will receive the best care possible.  The commute leaves little to be desired, but Cristy is slowly finding things to do in the area so that she doesn't have to be a road warrior the whole time.  If you want to find out more about this great cause please check this link:

Camp Aurora Day Camp

     This Friday Evan has an appointment for his monthly IV based chemo and his quarterly spinal tap.  I should get updated counts this Friday and will try to provide them in a more timely fashion.  While we still don't know the root cause of his depressed numbers, we're hopeful that it was simply fatigue and nothing more than another bump in the road towards his recovery.

Doing some yoga

I found this note from Evan when they left for Pinnacle Falls