We have another week under our belt...

We made out weekly trip to Syracuse today. Michael's counts were still a little low but rising. Dr. Kennedy said in the next 2 days his neutrophils should be back up where they should be and it should take that long for the carboplatin to suppress his bone marrow again so she gave Michael his treatment today. He did well.

We arrived at the hospital around 12:30pm and grabbed some lunch in the cafeteria before heading to the oncology unit. After we checked in, Britney (the child life specialist) showed Michael a table full of stuffed rabbits, chicks and lambs in various sizes and colors. She invited Michael to pick one out for his own. His picked a soft, floppy white rabbit with a blue ribbon that he has named "Rabby".

The nurses were running a little behind so Dr. Kennedy came out to get Michael for his physical. Everything looked fine. Dr. Kennedy said the fever Michael had last Sunday and Monday may have been from a virus and could have contributed to his low blood counts. Then the nurse came and took Michael's vitals and accessed his port. As Dr. Kennedy was leaving the exam room, she told Michael he needed to pick out a tooth brush. Michael was nervous that he was going to have to brush his teeth right then (and that is really a battle right now with his sore mouth). But, instead Britney showed him a huge Easter basket somebody had brought in full of candy and dental stuff. Michael picked out a Transformers tooth brush and Winnie the Pooh toothpaste to bring home.

As we were walking down the hall from the exam room to the treatment room, we passed the microscope room, where Dr. Kennedy was looking at slides of Michael's blood. She invited him in to have a look, too. Michael was thoroughly fascinated. Dr. Kennedy looked through her microscope, which contained the slide, and Michael could look through the eyepieces of a second microscope that was attached. Dr. Kennedy then used lighted arrows to point out different things and explain them to Michael. She showed him his neutrophils, leukocytes and monocytes (or white cells) and his platelets (or red cells). I wish I had had my camera as it was an incredible sight to see Michael sitting next to Dr. Kennedy, looking through a microscope so intently!

We then settled into the treatment room but we had to wait awhile for the "official" blood counts to come up from the lab (since his counts were still on the low side of things). While we were waiting, Michael watched the "Stuart Little II" movie that Aunt Florie had sent him that he didn't watch last week (since he didn't receive his treatment). Britney came in and told Michael that she has a cousin that owns a construction company. She said she told her cousin that she knew a little boy that loves construction equipment so he gave her a T-shirt for Michael with a trachoe on it.

Then Dr. Kennedy gave the okay for chemo to begin and around 2:30pm, they began his meds. They gave him his Benadryl first and Michael promptly fell asleep. And except for taking his medicine and eating a bowl of cereal around 7:30pm, he is still sound asleep. Hopefully he will sleep through the night.

It was after 5:00pm when we left the hospital and we drove through a terrible storm from the hospital parking lot right to our driveway. I will be so glad when spring finally gets here! If there is nothing new to post tomorrow, I will post Sunday night and let everyone know how the Make-A-Wish interview goes. Please keep Michael in your thoughts and prayers, JoAnne