Back from Memphis. Mac's counts were up a bit and his chemistries were fine! Creeping, creeping, creeping up... I'm ready for the counts to jump up to normal but his bone marrow seems to be taking its time! We took Peter and Annie this time; they are entertained by St. Jude. Annie especially likes the hop scotches painted on the floors in the hallways. It was a quick round trip and involved a lot of time in the van. We are decreasing the shot to the final dose, and will check labs again in 2 weeks (here). The big news of the trip was that Mac can get off of the low-bacteria diet he was on (all the kids at St. Jude are on it) and he wants to celebrate with an Icee! I learned a lot from that diet as far as bacteria goes... you may want to stay away from Chinese buffets - old rice is a Petri dish! And ice/drink machines in restaurants - who knows when those get cleaned! Yuck. I could go on & on, but then you might think I'm turning into a germaphobe....

Thanks for reading and checking in with us! More of the same. Going in the right direction. Can we speed up the process please? I would really appreciate it! Keep praying!! We are very thankful to you!

We got Mac's labs checked again at NO Children's hospital. His hemoglobin went up, the platelets went down and the ANC remained stable. As I said before, I can stress about all the tenths of points, which is why they look for TRENDS, not daily counts. And they said from the beginning that this is a slow wait & watch process. So overall things are fine, the trends are up, but as the mom, it's my duty to worry and stress about every point.

Mac, on the other hand, is not one bit stressed. He's happy to be home, happy with his friends and his gadgets, and happy his father can't make him mow the lawn...

We will continue the decrease in the shot, and go to St. Jude for a check up at the end of May. Thanks for checking in and praying. His counts are up, but still not in the "normal" range. So lets be really specific this week! Normal, normal, normal. And stay there!!

We did Mac's labs at Children's Hospital last week, and his levels dropped a tiny bit. The ANC was expected to drop, due to the decrease in the shot. The Hgb and platelets were just a bit down from the last check, so we are continuing the decrease in the shot and checking his labs again next week (here in NO).

Otherwise, we're good. Of course I stress about every tenth of a point in his levels, but this is a tricky game we're playing and I'm just going to keep following the weaning instructions and hold my breath and pray! Surely his bone marrow wants to work full force by now!!

Thanks for checking in and keeping Mac in your prayers!!!!