Interesting Few Days for Andrew

We took Andrew back to U of M Hospital for his scheduled appointment on Friday. His numbers came back lower than the previous Friday. Most importantly, his neutrophil count dropped from 1100 to 700. The doctors have told us in the past that they want his neutrophil count to stay above 1500 for a period of time before they reduce his medication. Despite that, Dr. Boxer decided to try lowering his medication slightly anyway, from two doses of .9 mL a day to one .8 mL dose and one .9 mL dose. Andrew is scheduled to have another blood count to see how things are working.

Dr. Boxer also talked to us about trying a niacin treatment he has been working on. Basically, Andrew would get 100 times the recommended daily dose of niacin, and that seems to spur neutrophil production in the body. The nurse practitioner we met with Friday told me it doesn't work on everybody, and that Andrew would have to be able to swallow pills to get that amount of niacin into his body. We are going to work with Andrew on swallowing pills in case we revisit this treatment in the future.

On Monday morning, Andrew woke up with a cough and was gasping for breath, which were very similar symptoms to what he had when we first took him to the doctor last April. We were concerned because of the low numbers and reduced medication, so we ended up taking Andrew to see his pediatrician. They checked him out and did a blood cell count, and the results were about the same as Friday. He still has a cough, but his breathing has been fine since Monday morning. His next blood count is on Thursday, so we will see where he is at.

Movin' on up

Andrew had a lab draw today at U of M. His numbers are up, but ANC is still not back to the level it was. ANC is at 1.1. Platelets, hemoglobin, and white blood cells are all at good levels for Andrew. We take Andrew back to U of M for an appointment with the doctor next Friday. Hopefully, by then, his numbers will be back on track.

Andrew's Numbers Drop

Yesterday, Andrew had a lab draw at Beaumont. A nurse at U of M called Erin around 11:00 to tell her that Andrew's ANC level had dropped to 0.4. Last Tuesday this number was at 3.2. This is a pretty significant drop. The nurse spoke to the doctor and the doctor wants Andrew's medication increased for the time being. She also wants Andrew to have another lab draw on Friday to see where his levels are at. Hopefully, his numbers will increase back to a more stable level. Please pray for our little guy!