January 22, 2013

We'd like to extend our apologies to our readers for the long delay between updates, but in this case no news is definitely good news! SD has been doing wonderfully on the lowered chemo dosages. Although he caught a cold the week preceeding Christmas, he recovered in under a week (we're used to his cough lingering for a couple weeks), and at his last clinic his ANC and WBCs were the best they've been in a long time (apart from when they shot up during his October PICU visit). In fact, they were so solid in spite of the recent illness that we've been instructed to increase one of his medications back to the full dose even though they usually wait to see three months of good counts. SD's counts have been good for two months now and it shows.

SD with his poke prize: a tiger!
These two were inseparable during the early January steroid pulse.

SD managed to escape going to clinic during the entire month of December. This allowed our family to enjoy a wonderful Christmas in Wisconsin with many family members and an unexpected extended trip into the U.P. to visit more family! With the five week break, however, comes a shortened time between his next appointments (and steroids). The three weeks have passed much too quickly. Please pray that SD's little body will continue to keep up with the medications, as this month will see him undergoing more chemo in a shorter time than he's had since Maintenance started in August.