More pics

This was Hayden's 'busy week'- he had a blood test and appointment with Dr. Stoffman at the clinic on Tuesday, a spinal at PDU on Wednesday, and he started his 5-day pulse of steroids.

Good news - his neutrophil count is slowly climbing. He's at .89, which is up from .79 two weeks ago (whew!). Hopefully his counts continue to rise so we can maintain the current chemo levels, which are at 50 and 75%. More good news - he's done with monthly spinal injections. He goes to PDU next month, then every three months after that. Plus if his counts level-out, he'll need fewer trips to the clinic for blood tests (yay!).

For whatever reason, the steroids are wreaking havoc with Hayden this round. It doesn't take much to set off his temper and the food cravings are wicked. For example, he decided that he doesn't want a much-needed haircut...which is fine (especially considering that he lost all of his hair - twice) but he waited until he was sitting in the barber chair to exercise his follicle rights. Last night we went out to Transcona in a downpour to get Quality Pizza (the one by us is temporarily closed) because nothing else would do. Yep, it's a long 5 days.

Below are some pics from Kids Fishing For a Cure. Unfortunately, the river was too high to have boats on the water but we had fun fishing from the shore. Hayden got another trophy - this time for a 14-inch sauger. It was a great event and what a difference from last year! It was awesome to see him having fun and hanging out with his good buddies from clinic. Then last weekend, he and cousin Chandler hung out with them again at Camp Indigo. It's organized by CancerCare, from Friday to Sunday at Camp Arnes. I wasn't all that keen about having him gone for a whole weekend (honestly, I don't even like 1-night sleepovers with family) but with Dr. Disoronno's help, I did just fine. I guess I've come a long way too.
















Reeling in a big one





















Now that's a big bass fish
















Kicking bass and taking names

Just the facts

I promise...today's post will NOT make you cry.

Hayden's neutrophil count on Tuesday was .79. It's on the low side, likely because Dr. Stoffman once again increased some of his chemo meds. Hayden's chemo is a cocktail of 5 or so drugs - he takes some orally at least once a day, plus monthly(ish) via his Iron Man port and lumbar puncture. The plan in the maintenance treatment phase is to give the maximum amount that his body will tolerate. That's why they watch his blood counts so closely - especially infection-fighting neutrophils (a type of white blood cell). So they'll keep increasing one or more of the meds to see if his counts stay in the optimal range. If not, we have to wait until they come back up, then try a different mix. No two kids metabolize drugs the same way so it's a trial-and-error thing. Hayden, however, continues to baffle his doctor with bouncing counts. Of course, a simple cold can throw everything out of whack so there are a lot of factors in play. Even though his neutrophils are on the low side right now, we're staying the course on the meds and testing again in 2 weeks.

Kids Fishing For A Cure is this weekend! Yay! This is a great event...and Hayden can enjoy it more this year because he's feeling MUCH better. He's looking forward to hanging out with his clinic buddies and we've asked for Captain Rory again. Can't wait to introduce him to the real H-Dawg (vs. the roid monster he met last year). Maybe we'll even with a big-bass trophy.

Happy, happy, happy. See...no tears.