MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2009 07:42 PM, CST
Well I'm finally back at a computer so I can update you on what's been going on. It's been a very busy 5 days or so. Last Thursday and Friday I took Tyler to Kootenai Medical Center for routine blood work. Saturday and Sunday I took him to Sacred Heart for more blood work but each day we got to leave so thats good!
Today they started his stem cell collection. The blood work leading up to today has been to figure out when they could start it. One of the tests is to look for a "cell marker" called CD34. They needed the count to be at least 10 before they could start. The test Saturday showed it was at 5.9. The nurse from the blood bank said by yesterday it should be at 10 but instead it was at 34! The higher the number the better but they have to grab the stem cells before that number starts going back down which can be anytime. That's why as soon as it got to 10 they wanted to harvest it. Praise God it was so high! The harvest took about 3 1/2 hours. Tyler did very well. They were able to take it from his central line instead of putting a catheter in his groin. I'm sure Tyler was pretty happy about that. :) They gave him sedation but of course it didn't work. He is very stubborn when it comes to being put under! It did seem to calm him down a little so they just had me hold him on my lap until they were done. They didn't get enough of what they need today so we have to go back again tomorrow morning for one more harvest. When it's done, they'll check his blood counts like they did today to see if he needs a red blood cell transfusion. The stem cell harvest destroys a lot of red blood cells. His ANC is really good though. It went from 20 to 2640 in about 4 days.
He starts his next round of chemo on January 19th. They will do a scan and bone marrow testing on the 19th and 20th to see if the chemo is working. I am very, very nervous for those results but I'm trying to trust God. He knows what He's doing.
Tyler climbed a couple stairs at my aunt's house and was able to put his hands on the 2nd step to stand up. I was shocked! I haven't seen him stand up by himself since early to mid November. I hope that's a sign that the chemo is working!
Please pray for his results on the 19th and 20th. Also, please continue to pray for the other kids on the floor. A few of them are having several side effects and complications from the chemo. I hope not as much time passes between this entry and my next one. I'll try to be more on top of it!
Kristine