Thursday, December 19, 2013

A Christmas Miracle?!

This past Monday when I took Ev into clinic I was completely surprised when we got his counts back. His counts involve a litany of cells...white and red blood cells, hemoglobin, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes and it goes on and on. Anyways, from these cells we get an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) and this tells us the strength of his immune system. His ANC was 4150! This is almost in a normal range. I stared at the number for awhile and then questioned the nurses (I had forgotten how to calculate the number, as I have relied on the strengths of those around me).

The number is accurate, of course. And, then it took me at least a day to process it. I am a rational person and this is not a rational situation. He was predicted to be close to 0 by Christmas Eve. And, if we were to look at how Ev responded last time with this mix of drugs, his counts came down. His counts actually went up from the week before while on meds that really wipe cells out. I am baffled.

One of our friends (who has recently beat breast cancer) said, "it's a Christmas miracle!"

So, maybe it is. We'll take it. I still have questions in the back of my mind, but Ev looks and feels good, so I am joyful. Eventually, the numbers will come back down (as they should), but this high count basically buys us time to be at home with friends and family for Christmas and gives a cushion in case he catches a bug.

As he runs down the hall I see his pink cheeks and I still think, "oh no, he has a fever!" But, in reality, he is the healthiest I have seen him in at least 7 months. Pink cheeks and no fever...it's beautiful!

Tomorrow we go back to Riley for more chemo shots. He has completed 6 out of 24 shots that will happen in December and January. He hates the shots, but the nurses are so kind and encouraging. The older kids that have them describe them as painful, so even though he can't tell us exactly, we know.

Thankfully, for Ev, it only takes a couple super hero band-aids and a handful of candy corn and he's back to being ok and playing. I marvel at how strong he is time after time, month after month.

So, Merry Christmas to us and Merry Christmas to all of you! We would not be as strong as we are without the love of all of you.




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