4 weeks to go!

What's up? Hayden's neutrophil count, that's what! He was .83...up from just .44 last week.

He easily cleared the minimum to restart the Delayed Intensification (DI) treatment phase. So Hayden was admitted on Tuesday to the Children's Hospital for an overnight stay. He was hooked up to fluids through an IV (via Iron Man port) to keep him well hydrated, which is required with one of the chemo meds he received, called cyclophosphamide (try saying that!!!). He also got a familiar chemo drug called cytarabine (AKA ara C). This is given with anti-nausea meds, also through the IV. Plus, we started a new chemo med, called thioguanine. This one's a pill that we give him every night - but must be on an emply stomach (so much for bed-time snacks).

The hospital stay was fairly uneventful. As is the custom, we brought Goosebumps movies...these cheesy movies scare the pants off kids but H loves them so they are a special treat reservied for the hospital (Viewers Choice Video was so touched, they give us 2 for 1 family movies...they're awesome with H). One unexpected but totally welcome perk of the scary movies was that Hayden got totally freaked out and insisted that I sleep with him. That may not sound like much of a bonus but I'll take 1/2 a hospital bed over the fold-down chair any day. In the end, neither of us got much sleep because he needs to frequently pee when he's on the IV drip.

On Wednesday, before being discharged, he was back at the PDU for a spinal shot of methotrexate (this too has occurred in every other treatment phase). Plus he has home nurse appointments today and tomorrow for thigh injections of cytarabine (he hates it!). Aside from the fact that he hid and I couldn't find the little bugger (he was quite pleased with himself over that), today went really well so hopefully he will be less anxious about tomorrow.

Hayden was sick this morning but he's been fine since...even keeping small amounts of food down (probably thanks to anti-nauseau meds we gave him). DI is, to say the least, a very intensive treatment phase...but it's also the last one before we hit maintenance. That's right, now that we're rolling again, we're only a measly 4 weeks away from cruise control (yeah!). Actually, the last 2 weeks are relatively easy so, really, we're are sooooo close.

With all of this chemo, we expect Hayden's blood counts to drop again...possibly in a week (back to neutropenia). So tonight, we are heading out to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Unfortunately, we have to miss Uncle Ray's birthday but we may have a very small window of opportunity because Hayden's friend, who has been patiently waiting, is heading out of town tomorrow. A few months back, Hayden gave his school buddy a gift card for the theater and made plans to see the movie together when it came out. However, Hayden's counts dropped (so no immune system) and he couldn't go out crowds. It is sooooo sweet that this little guy waited all that time for Hayden - by his own choice! Hayden is so pumped.

So we gotta go. Happy Birthday Uncle Ray...hope you have a great night too!