Blah.... you guessed it. All counts down. With the shot gone, we expected his ANC to go down. But all the others dropped too. I promised I wouldn't stress when I saw the results today because there seems to be a pattern that counts are lower when we do them here at NO Children's Hospital. Maybe they have a different method of counting here.... like some kind of Napoleonic Code.

So anyway, today marks a year since we got to St. Jude and got Mac's diagnosis. Those are some days I wouldn't want to go through again. Since I'm not dwelling on counts this week, I'll focus on something more positive. Raye has been organizing Team MacAttack and the St. Jude marathon. RUNNING FOR A REASON! Our goal is $40,000. Would you consider being a runner (or walker/crawler) or a donor? It is humbling for me to know that so many people out there cared about Mac & our family last year and donated to the team.... lots of family, even some strangers who knew a friend of a friend and cared enough to donate. I will admit that before we became members of "the club we don't want to be in" we never donated to St. Jude, or knew that much about it. Now we know first hand what an incredible place it is. Mac was (and still is) receiving top notch medical care and we were given housing as well as tutors to keep up his schoolwork while in Memphis. Had we needed it, shuttle services are provided. Our medical supplies and medicines are still shipped to our door. They think of everything to make a horrible situation a little less horrible. In tough economic times, I know everyone has to be thoughtful with their contributions, but I hope you give Team MacAttack consideration! We are still in the organizing process, with our old team signing up and new members joining. Our hope is for Mac to be able to walk/jog the 5K as a survivor!! (For that to happen he'll need a higher hemoglobin and a lot more platelets than he had today, but I promised not to dwell on those counts, remember?!)

Here is a link to the US News and World Report article, ranking St. Jude as #1 in Children's Cancer Hospital. (We are personally fan favorites of the non-malignant hematology department, which is also excellent, but is not as well known.)

http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/pediatric-rankings

The Team MacAttack page for 2010 can be found here -

https://waystohelp.stjude.org/sjVPortal/public/displayTeamPage.do?teamId=5253&programId=401&eventId=108867

When you register for your race of choice, make sure you register as a Hero on Team MacAttack so that your fundraising will be attributed to Team Macattack. The half marathon sells out early so make sure you register soon! We already have some donations and new runners registered! For those who are not into training, but more into socializing, the 5K is a great option. And there is always the Donate button if you can't make the race in December, but would like to contribute to our cause.

And finally, here's a link to the Team MacAttack facebook page - we will try to keep it updated with info and pictures! Thanks Raye, for all of your hard work!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-MacAttack/136905153004557#!/pages/Team-MacAttack/136905153004557?v=wall

I think you just experienced a St. Jude pep rally! I hope you are all enjoying your summer and as always, thanks for praying for us and supporting St. Jude. Novenas for high counts!! I'll update again after our trip to Memphis at the end of the month.

Yay! Hooray! The report from Memphis is really good! What happened last time, we're not sure! Different labs, different days. Who knows. As Martha said, if we were to run labwork on anyone every 2 weeks, there would be ups & downs. This time, his ANC was up again, so we are ending the GM-CSF shot. Mac is very excited about that, needless to say. He's been getting this shot consistenly for 11 months. And that is my least favorite RN task... Hopefully his ANC will stay at a satisfying level and we won't have to reintroduce it. Mac's hemoglobin was 10.5 this time... the highest we've ever seen it! We've been given the OK to slowly start him back on regular exercise and strengthening of his muscles. We're getting closer to the "normal" levels, although his line and his platelets (104,000) keep him from playing contact sports in the near future.

Thanks for all the prayers! If you feel like this roller coaster is giving you whiplash, I agree. It's constantly moving, plunging, changing. I'm really ready to coast to the exit now. But this last year has taught me many things, and at the top of the list is to enjoy the ups because no one knows what's looming around the next curve. We'll check his counts again here in 2 weeks and then back to Memphis in 2 more.

10.5!!! Come on 11!! Come on platelets. Hang in there ANC. Keep praying. Thank you for checking in with us! And have a very safe and happy 4th of July!