The home stretch

It looked like we were going to sail through the rest of the DI treatment phase but by Wed/Thurs last week, Hayden was feeling pretty rotten. His head was pounding, he started barthing, and on Friday his temperature started to spike (ugh). Unfortunately, we can't give him Tylenol when his neutrophil count is low. Fortunately, Friday is a clinic day so Tom took him in for a blood test. You can imagine our shock when Dr. Stoffman announced that Hayden's neutrophil count was high...really high! On Tuesday, he was neutropenic (ANC = .61). On Friday, he was at 1.33. Seriously, I can count on one hand the times that H WASN'T neutropenic during the last 8+ months so this floored us. We later learned that the same drug that caused all of the horrible flu-like symptoms (ara C / cyterabine), can also spike neutrophil counts. So now he could go out in public, but any scent of food made him barth and sunlight made his head ache. Needless to say, it was a pretty low-key weekend.

Hayden was still feeling crappy on Monday so we kicked off our summer vacation (Tom and I took the week off) with another unscheduled trip to the clinic. Hayden's neutrophil count was through the roof (ANC = 1.94) so Tylenol was still OK. At our regularly-scheduled clinic appointment on Tuesday, Hayden got his very last thigh injections - EVER! This time he took both at once and added another step to his poke routine - at the thumbs-up, I sang the SpongeBob Square Pants theme song. What a relief to never have to stare down those needles again...that was the only thing that got H really worked up. So done.

By Wednesday Hayden was feeling well...and just in time because he was sick of being sick. We kept promising that he's almost through the worst of it, but I don't think he got it. And no wonder...this poor kid has been in suck-it-up mode for so long that, to an 8-year-old, it probably seems never ending. BUT IT IS!

Next week is our last week of the dreaded DI treatment phase. We have an appointment on Tuesday for some run-of-the-mill chemo (hehehehe...yeah, there's such a thing). After that, we wait for his counts to hit the required minimums, then we are in maintenance. The thing with maintenance is that it's easier than any other phase, and it only gets better. The treatments gradually lessen until March 24, 2012 - and then, my friends, it's all over.

PS: we did get out to enjoy the nicest week of the summer (so far). Despite H's very low hemoglobin (affects energy & stamina) we went to Oasis and today he golfed a solid 9 holes. Platelets are also low so he is a walking bruise...but happy to be feeling well.