Wednesday, Aug 4

G's day began with his usual 4 am blood draw. By 9 am those results later revealed his WBC was 58. Amazing! We went from 290 to 58 in one day. Those chemo drugs do their thing don't they?! Now just bc his WBC went down doesnt mean all was good. They explained to us when we see changes in one blood number the others teeter totter as well. His platelets and hgb(red blood cells/hemoglogin) were still low.

Here is more of that math junk describing what normal levels are:

WBC level is : 5.0-19.5

hgb level is: 10.5-13.5

platelets: 140 -450

On that dreadful Saturday his numbers were:

327

8.7

45

(respectively as written above)

And as the days went by his WBC dropped and hgb n platelets still remained on the low end. A wicked game in my opinion.

But that good news of WBC 58 meant we could leave PICU and return to the PED unit. I was excited to return to nurses I missed and will forever be in my heart those first 24 hours of this rollercoaster. It was great news to leave the "cautious watchful eyes" of PICU. We werent so fragile and could make the move.

It was another day of hallway walks, ordered meals, trying to get him to eat more than a fry or a handful of goldfish, meds, vital checks n constant in and out of people. G and I took a long nap. Charito headed home for the afternoon.

We did have a great visit from Auntie Najette. Although she was persistent I was not so much in the mood for visitors I knew that if I did not want to talk about the bad stuff she would not expect me to. She wanted to see G before her whole fam left for vacation. I agreed. I was sooooo glad I did. I didnt realize how much I needed the happy distraction. She entered the room w a bag of goodies and the biggest Elmo balloon ever. It was taller than G! He had playdoh and aquadoodles and the most fun biffing her in the face w the smiley balloon. It was the laughter we needed!

At some point in the day I remember a social worker stopping by as well as a dietician. She stated that she was pleased w the amount of food n drink he was intaking. I had to chuckle to myself bc it was funny to me they thought nibbles here and there were ok. I knew the fluids through his IV were sustainable but what about real food. She restated his weight was hanging in there considereing what he was going thru. But she was going to add pediasure to his computerized menu so it arrive automatically w each meal I ordered him from food services. If from this point on in treatment he had any issues w weight gain or nutritional needs they would address them as needed thru meds or IV. We would worry about that when the time came. Great! More to worry about down the road. I was seeing that my list was endless. I wished I knew for how long. How long would this be part of our lives. This big L word that had consumed us all.