Off to a non-start

And we’re off to NON-start (almost) in the Interim Maintenance phase. Tuesday’s blood test revealed that our dear boy is, once again, neutropenic. Hayden’s neutrophils were at 0.35 and need to be at least .5 to keep going. So he didn’t get his chemo and we’re back to the clinic tomorrow for another blood test. If we’re good to go, he’ll get two chemo drugs through his Iron Man port and we’ll hit the PDU on Saturday for thigh injections. Otherwise, he gets one chemo drug tomorrow and we wait until next Tuesday for another test.

Ya think we’d stop being surprised by these delays. We’re just so happy to make progress that it doesn’t even occur to us that we’d get ANOTHER delay. Oh well…here’s what we have learned about fluctuating blood counts: we can’t control it; being anxious about it doesn’t make a difference; and things could be a whole lot worse. Hayden is in great spirits and generally feeling well. His appetite is almost normal and he hasn’t felt barthy since his last chemo treatment. If fact, he’s gaining a bit of an independent streak.

Hayden now prefers to go solo into the treatment room at the clinic when he gets blood tests (I spy outside the door). He wants to start taking the school bus again (I call shot gun!). And, he’s talking about going to a kids’ CancerCare camp (I’m pricing out camo gear). Hopefully this is just a phase…

And now for the biggest and bestest news of the day: Hayden went back to tae kwon do. It was kind of a last minute thing but he was absolutely sure that he wanted to go. It was physically challenging for him and he really struggled at times, but he never stopped trying. The determined look on his face took me back to his first hospital stay (shortly after he was diagnosed) when his leg problems started. He mustered every bit of will to move his leg and even talked himself through the pain. I knew right then that he was a warrior and no matter how hard things got, he would never quit. He is an inspiration. We are so incredibly proud of him.