Monday, January 28, 2008

First birthday

I find myself beginning to prepare for Zachary's upcoming first birthday. It is so hard to believe that our 'baby' is going to be one in a little over a month. I find myself thinking back to Joshua's first birthday. It's hard to believe that was over 7 years ago. It truly makes me realize that life goes by entirely too fast and I need to slow down and enjoy the little things! I know that I spend way too much time worrying about work, school, the house, etc. I need to spend more of those times focused on my kids! They are such a blessing. Next time Zachary is wanting to play and all I want to do is clean, I promise to sit down and play wrestling on the floor! The next time Joshua wants to play a board game, I will not be too busy with school work, I will ask, which game? May each day give my kids joy and they will know how much they are loved and valued!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Asking for more prayers for friends

I come asking for prayers for more friends. My little friend Tyler will be 3 in May. I met him and his family when he was just a little over 4 pounds and had under gone his first heart surgery. He touched my heart and his family and I kept in touch after he got better and went home from the hospital. He has had several more surgeries and now finds himself at Riley hospital being worked up for a heart transplant. He's a strong little boy with a very weak heart. Please keep Tyler, his mom Christy, and his entire family in your prayers during this difficult time.

Cruising!!

Zachary has been so much fun lately. He is laughing all the time, giving big wet slobbery teethy kisses, and becoming much more comfortable standing on his own two feet! He is taking a few steps at a time and has found himself standing unassisted several times. I still think he could walk if he wasn't so lazy! It's just easier to crawl. Plus, he can crawl so fast!

Joshua is doing well at school. He comes home from school and Zachary's face lights up! They love each other so much and I'm so glad. Who knows how long that will last! Probably until Zachary gets into Joshua's video games! ;o)

We are beginning to plan Zachary's first birthday. We can't hardly believe it's just a short 6 weeks away! Should be a good time, hopefully all the family can make it down from the Fort Wayne area!

Friday, January 18, 2008

1274!!

Finally, our boy is normal! ;o) I called the hematology office this morning for the results of Zachary's cbc and she said his ANC is 1274! That has doubled in the last week. She still has to run the results past the dr to see if we will need to do anymore cbc's. But we are all very pleased with this number! After she told me the number, I looked at Zachary and said, "You're finally normal, baby!" He just giggled. Guess he's thinking, "That's what you think mom!"

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Things are going well

I am almost afriad to write that! Zachary is doing well, he gets another CBC drawn on Thursday morning. Joshua enjoyed his 8th birthday and got embarrassed when mommy kissed him in front of the kids at school.

Thanks for the prayers! Every prayer matters and has truly helped us all!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

My heart is broken for friends

Please keep Andy, Krista, and Seth Layman in your prayers as they just lost their angel Kate. Kate was a patient of mine at St. Vincent and I love their family greatly. You can read their story at www.layman4.blogspot.com

God bless them and be with them during this time of pain.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Our Monday update

Dr. Razzouk called this morning to let us know that one of the blood tests they did on Zachary, checking for antibodies against his neutrophils, was negative. He was pleased with that and said now it is just a matter of time to get his levels back to normal. Zachary seems to be feeling well. He's eating like a little piggy and back to getting into everything.

On a different note, Joshua will be 8 years old tomorrow! It's hard to believe that he is growing up so quickly. Aunt Kelly is coming over tomorrow evening to stay with Zachary and mom and dad will take Joshua out for dinner for his birthday.

Thanks again everyone for your prayers. We truly appreciate them and they work!!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

How do you spell relief?

Dr. Razzouk! He was wonderful this morning with us. Assured us that this truly looks to be viral. He informed me that it can take weeks to months for Zachary's counts to come back up to normal (would have been nice if they'd told me that in the hospital). He said it can be caused by several viruses. 5th disease (which Joshua had on Christmas) or Mononucleosis (Zachary's been kissing the girls again!) are the two big ones! No need to test for either one of these right now because it won't change the treatment plan.

We are going to check frequent CBC's (did one in the office today and will do another next Thursday) to watch the counts. He said if it looks like they are just not coming up or are dropping, we may need to look at doing a bone marrow aspiration or further testing for viruses.

If he spikes a fever we have to go to the dr to get a CBC and be seen. If he starts looking very ill, to the hospital we go for antibiotics. Still keeping him out of public as much as possible for now, until his counts get higher. I have a new education on CBC's, calculating absolute neutrophil counts, and neutropenia that I didn't have prior to this appt. But all in all, I feel much relieved. Zachary even laid still for two pokes for blood (3 tubes) and didn't cry at all. What a trooper. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Friends in high places

It helps to have friends in high places. My friend Kate, who I used to work with at Lutheran and St. Vincent's, is a nurse practitioner at the hematology office. She has gotten us in tomorrow morning. That way I can get my fears calmed before Monday!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Update!

Heard back from the dr office. They just want us to go see Dr. Razzouk (the hematologist). We have an appt for Monday at 9am. I am going to call in the morning, through around my PICU connection (whatever good it is) and try to get in yet this week.

Never quite as planned

I fully expected Zachary's counts to go up dramatically with yesterday's cbc. Unfortunately his neutrophil count actually dropped from 8 to 6. I don't know what this means in the grand scheme of things and neither did our family dr. He is faxing all of the cbc's to the hematologist who looked at Zachary's blood in the hospital. So we wait. Definately have a new appreciation for the parents who wait for hours on end for their child's lab/tests.

Will keep you posted.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Post away!

Just wanted all my faithful readers (all 5 of you!) to know that you can now post comments anonymously. This means you do not need to have a password. Just click on the comment link under the post and write me a note to let me know you are reading. Sign your note with your name so I know who to thank!

Check up!

Took Zachary this morning for his check up and repeat cbc. Unfortunately our dr is out sick with the flu, but we saw his partner. Dr. Cooper said he was aware of Zachary's situation from Dr. Z speaking with him about the labs last Wednesday. "Impressive, is all I can say about his bloodwork!" Dr Cooper said. Glad to know Zachary impresses people and keeps them on their toes. So, we talked about his congestion and Dr. Cooper still feels it is viral. He hasn't had a fever, and ears and everything look good. So no antibiotics for now. Will continue watching him closely. We (meaning Mommy) drew his cbc. The tech at the office tried once and missed and felt awful so she asked me if I minded looking. I would rather poke him myself then to see him have to be poked multiple times. I think he forgave me as soon as I picked him up!

So now we wait for the results and pray that things are returning to normal and we can soon venture out of the house. The temp is 61 degrees and I'd rather be anywhere than inside our house!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Runny nose and cough??

Zachary woke up yesterday with a runny nose and congested cough. I of course panicked. Called the dr and luckily our dr was on call. He assured me that the hematologist felt like Zachary was out of the woods for picking up a bug that would really make him sick. His counts were high enough that they felt he would be safe. Now that doesn't mean we can take him to the children's museum or the grocery, but he should be safe here at home. That gave me a big sigh of relief. Our dr also went ahead and gave me his cell number since he was not on call all weekend. He wanted to be available to us in case Zachary did begin running a fever. Can we just say how much we love him!

Zachary is playful and happy. He makes us laugh constantly. We are so blessed by our two wonderful boys!

Friday, January 4, 2008

Prayers answered!

We're home. Though Zachary's neutrophil count wasn't quite as high as they'd like (his was 500, they'd like 1500), they allowed us to come home. He is safer away from the hospital and all the germs included in the hospital. So we are going back to the dr on monday for a recheck of his labs. We are under strict instructions to return to the hospital immediately if he gets a temp greater than 100.4 so they can culture everything and start antibiotics.

Thanks for the prayers, obviously they work! Also, we feel like Zachary definately has an angel on his shoulder. If it weren't for the red colored medication induced stools, we never would have had a cbc run. He could have gotten an infection and died. We feel so blessed.

It's 10:10pm and Zachary is still playing hard. He wasn't able to get down and crawl around while we were in the hospital. So he is loving it up tonight and is putting on a show for my sisters and my mom.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Hospital blues

I posted about our situation earlier and just logged on and it wasn't there. So I'm going to post this again. I'm really hating this blog as it never seems to post what I want it to.

Zachary was having red stools that we believed to be bloody. We saw our family dr who ordered a CBC to check his blood counts. While we learned that his stools were not bloody, the red color was from the antibiotic he was on, Omnicef. We did discover that Zachary is severely neutropenic (too low of a neutrophil count in his white blood cells) which makes him highly susceptable to infections. We were admitted to the hospital with a neutrophil count of 1. It must be 5 or higher before we can be released. Also we have to insure that no ill people come into contact with Zachary because his immune system could not handle an infection. It could possibly kill him. My family is coming to town tomorrow to basically sterilize my house from top to bottom to ensure that when we do take him home, he doesn't become ill from anything in the house. We also will not be able to take him out into public for quite a while. He will require frequent cbc checks to ensure that everything is turning around.

Initially there was the fear that this was caused by leukemia, but the doctors all believe that it is from a virus that just wiped out his immune system. His immune system will rebound on its own, we just don't know how long it will take. There is a hematologist looking at his blood smears to ensure there are no "leukemic" looking cells. I will keep you all posted, but please keep us all in your prayers, we need them.

Our happy new year didn't last long!

Zachary was having Red stools (we believed to be bloody). Had a cbc done at the dr office on Wednesday which showed that his neutrophil count was dangerously low (putting him at high risk for an overwhelming infection.) We were sent to the er. We found out that the red stools were red because of the antibiotic he was just finishing. But we are still hospitalized because of the neutropenia. Waiting to see the hematologist today to find out what is causing it. Everyone says they believe it is from a viral suppression. Zachary has been sick a lot lately. The virus could have suppressed his immune system. If that is the case, the neutrophil count should return to normal over time. We just have to be careful not to let him get sick!

Will keep you all posted, please say a few prayers. Mommy has had it! ;o)

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

I'm over it!!

I am done waiting for the time when everything will be normal in my family. I'm convinced it won't happen. This week Zachary started having bloody stools. We have just been watching it for a few days. Took a specimen to the dr office when I took Joshua in for his allergy shot this morning. The dr said, "Oh my that is a lot of blood." We drew blood for a cbc and will wait for the results. Then my dr will call our GI dr and discuss our options. Not sure what to think anymore.

To top it off, Rosie (our dog), began vomiting and having diarrhea this morning. She has a long running medical history. The blood work shows that her liver enzyme levels are climbing despite an increase in her steroid meds. I'm scare that we will be making a life or death decision for her soon.

Please keep us in your prayers and pray for my sanity, because at this point, I'm convinced I have no sanity left.