Still Here.

3/5/2012: 11:05 AM

Greetings from St. Louis Children's Hospital.

We are still waiting for the doctors to make their rounds. Well, I am. Davis is still sleeping.

Yesterday, Davis' ANC had dropped from 30 to 20, but we were still optimistic of a climb because ten points in ANC world is nothing. Today, his ANC is 8. . .  Well, I guess it is better than zero. On the brighter side, it appears that his platelets and hemoglobin have leveled off because they are right around where they were yesterday. They are low, but no transfusions have been ordered yet. We are still just hanging out and waiting for his counts to build. The doctors just came in, so in other medical news, the knot on Davis' arm is shrinking. The head doctor examined it today and believes that it is probably a bruise of some sort. The doctors will continue to keep an eye on it until it is completely gone. And Davis has dropped a bit of weight. He now weighs 57 pounds, a far cry from the 70-75 pounds of healthy child his size. The dietitian just visited with us. She told us everything we already know. Davis is to eat high fat foods. Unfortunately, nearly everything he is encouraged to eat, he hates. I wish I would crave the lettuce salad he eats everyday, and he would crave the Mexican food, grilled cheese, and cheeseburgers that I eat everyday.

Davis' grandparents (my mom and stepdad) came for a visit yesterday. Davis had a great deal of energy, so it was nice to have a couple of bodies to help channel it. They surprised us with donuts and picked up some lunch.

It looks like aerobics, but Davis is teaching Grandma and Grandpa
some newly learned Power Ranger moves.

Davis had to have to port de-accessed and re-accessed. A port needle has to be changed every seven days in order to minimize opportunities for infections. Poor guy. The EMLA (numbing cream) they had given him to numb his port site either didn't work or the nurse didn't wait long enough, because he felt the entire needle being pushed in. The nurse and I both told him that it was ok to cry, but he didn't.

Oh, the importance of EMLA cream. Stinks getting a small nail
stuck into your chest when the numbing cream doesn't work.

I am pretty sure that Davis' first round of maintenance chemo will be postponed. He has to have an ANC over 750 and a platelet count of 75 to proceed on Friday. It could still happen, but each day of low counts decreases the chances.

Davis' oncologist, Dr. Schapiro, learned all about the world of Webkinz. Davis
is making it his mission to pass along all of his 10-year-old kid knowledge to her.

The hospital comes alive on Monday morning, and we have already had quite a few medical (doctors, nurses, techs, life specialists) professionals stop in. Davis is looking forward to his private time in the playroom today, and Kyle is on his way. The day is much more exciting when Kyle is around.

Last night, Davis' nurse taught him how to take his own blood pressure
with an old machine hanging in the room.

Thank you so much for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. They really are such a blessing to us. Please keep them coming. We have a long way to go until Davis is considered cured (five years after last treatment), so we lean heavily upon God and His healing powers, the wisdom of the doctors, and prayer and positive thoughts.

We will keep you posted.