Another Round at Beaumont

Today was interesting. Andrew, Chris, and I all ended up back at Troy Beaumont because Andrew spiked a fever around 3:30 this afternoon. This exact same thing happened about 10 days ago. Luckily, I was home because of Winter Break. Andrew's fever was 102.7. We called U of M and they told us to, once again, bring him into the nearest hospital. The doctors at Beaumont took good care of Andrew. The procedure is pretty much the same; Tylenol and Motrin to reduce the fever, blood draw from the port, influenza swab, chest x-ray, and an antibiotic. Once all those details were taken care of, we were able to come home. So Andrew is snug in bed. Hopefully, this was the extent of his virus and the fever doesn't come back. We will see how tonight goes.

Some Good News and Some Bad News

On Friday, Chris took Andrew to U of M for a checkup. The results from Andrew's blood work showed that his numbers have stayed the same from last time. Therefore, Andrew's medication has been reduced a little bit more. So we are steadily in medication reduction mode.

This was the good news.

Now for the bad news. Last night, Saturday, Andrew was spending the night at his grandparents house. We received a phone call around 9:00 that Andrew had a temperature of 102 degrees. We called the on-call oncologists at U of M and she told us we needed to take Andrew into the nearest ER. Chris met my mom at Troy Beaumont. At this point, the on-call doctor at U of M had contacted Troy Beaumont, so they knew Andrew was coming. When Andrew arrived, he had a temperature over 104 degrees. He tried taking some Tylenol, but threw up right afterwards. Andrew was brought to a room where they ran a series of tests. They tested his blood, port, and urine for different infections. They also tested for influenza. All tests results came back negative. Therefore, they determined that Andrew is trying to fight off a virus. The doctor gave Andrew some antibiotics through his port and then we were able to come home. Andrew woke up the next morning with a fever, so we have been treating it with Tylenol and Motrin. Andrew has been resting all day. Hopefully, he will feel better tomorrow!

Andrew Goes to a Red Wings Game

On Friday, February 4th, Andrew was invited by Lakeshore Energy (the group who sponsored his 'wish')to watch the Red Wings game from their suite. Andrew had an awesome time. When he arrived, the representative from Fox Sports gave Andrew a bag of Red Wings items, including a signed picture from Drew Miller (Andrew's favorite player). During the National Anthem, Andrew and Chris were able to stand by the Zamboni entrance and watch Karen Newman sing. When she was done, she stopped to take a picture with him. They also gave Andrew a practice puck right off the ice. After the first period, Dino Ciccarelli visited the suite and Andrew got to meet him. Even though the Red Wings lost the game, Andrew still had a great time!

Our 100th Post!

This is our 100th post and it comes with great news. Andrew's medication reduction has been going well. His numbers are as follows: hemoglobin-11.4, platelets-177,000, white blood cells-2.7, and ANC-1.5. These are all really good numbers for Andrew. They have held since his last blood draw. We take Andrew back to the doctor on February 11th. If the numbers are similar, then we can continue reducing his medication.

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Today is Andrew's 5th birthday. Happy Birthday to our little guy. Andrew wants to celebrate by eating "Chicago H-Dogs" which are pickles in a bun with ketchup and mustard. The hotdog is on the side. He wants a golf birthday cake and golf cupcakes for his birthday snack at school. We hope you have the best birthday, Andrew. We love you!

Latest Update....

Andrew went to U of M yesterday. His white blood cell count is at 2.8, his hemoglobin is at 11.3, his platelet count is at 222,000, and his neutrophils are at 1,500. These are all really good numbers for Andrew. The doctor has begun to reduce his medication, which means we are now in phase two of Andrew's treatment. If Andrew's numbers were to decline, we would need to increase his medication, therefore, if all goes well,it will take anywhere between 9 months and a year for Andrew to be completely free of all medication.

Andrew's numbers are up!

Andrew had a lab draw at Beaumont on Monday. Most of his numbers are on the rise. His hemoglobin is at 11.0, his white blood count is 3.7, his ANC is 2.5, and his platelets are 146,000. Platelets are slightly below normal, but nothing to worry about. Andrew's white blood cells and ANC are way up from last time. Andrew goes to U of M on January 14th for another appointment. We will find out then if we can start reducing his medication.

Andrew's Counts Down, Medication Reduction Delayed

Andrew's blood counts have gone down over the past four weeks, so the doctors don't feel he is ready to start weening off of the medication. He had a blood draw last Monday at Beaumont(we didn't get the results until a couple days ago) and another one at U of M today. His absolute neutrophil count(ANC), the one the doctors are now watching most closely, dropped from 2200 four weeks ago to 1400 at Beaumont to 1000 today. They want him to sustain an ANC of at least 1500 for four weeks before reducing medication. His white blood cell count has also dropped from 3.0 to 2.6 to 2.0 over this time span.

Andrew will have a lab draw just after New Years, and another visit at U of M on January 14. If his ANC stays consistently below 1500, they may increase his medication. We are hopeful that his numbers come back up before the next appointment.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends! A day at the beach was a great way to spend the end of our vacation. The kids enjoyed playing in the waves and searching for seashells. Tomorrow we leave for home. I'm sad that our vacation is coming to an end, but am excited to get back home to see everybody.

Dinner

Last night we went to a restaurant called Coces. Sophia liked being "fancy" because she put her napkin in her lap. Madeline liked smelling our wine glasses. Andrew liked the instruments from the jazz band. We had a great time and it was delicious!

Sea World

We just got home from Sea World. The kids had a great time...of course. The first thing we did was a meet and greet with Shamu. Then the kids took photos with Santa. After we took these photos we went to see the penguins, polar bears, walruses, and whales. Sophia loved the penguins. We took several pictures. I know Sophia's kindergarten teacher will be thrilled (we are definitely looking forward to penguin week!) After we saw these animals we watched two shows. The first was a seal and otter show and the second was a dolphin and bird show. Both were excellent. After the shows the kids wanted to feed the seals and the bat rays. Everything went smoothly until a bird stole a piece of fish right out of Sophia's hand. At the end of the day we were able to take pictures with Corky, the killer whale. The best part was that no one else was around, so the kids were able to watch the whale for quite a while. The kids are all resting right now and we will be off to dinner shortly. Tomorrow we spend time watching the Lions play football, enjoying the hotel Thanksgiving brunch, and visiting the beach. Until then....

Legoland

Today we went to Legoland. The kids enjoyed riding on all the different rides. Andrew rode on the race cars several times. Sophia rode on her first roller coaster. Madeline rode on a Lego boat. Sophia and Andrew made their own driver's licenses. All three kids rode in a pirate ship that sprayed water. They had a great time. Sophia, Andrew, and Madeline each bought a Lego set at the gift shop and we spent the rest of the night assembling Lego models.

Tomorrow we go to Sea World. We also celebrate my (Erin's)birthday. We have reservations at a restaurant in San Diego. We also have a birthday cake from a bakery called "Baby Cakes". Chris has an interesting story about purchasing the cake...ask him about it when we get back =)

San Diego Zoo

We just got home from our San Diego Zoo experience. It was amazing! We arrived at the zoo around 9am and left at 3:30pm. It was a long day for the kids, but they had a great time. We saw all sorts of animals and rode on the "Skyfari" (a cable car ride). We also hit the gift shop (of course!) right before we left. I have attached a few photos. Tomorrow we go to Legoland.

First Day of Vacation

Well, we are finally in San Diego! Yesterday was a big adventure. The limo picked us up at 5:30 am. We got to the airport and checked in...we had a lot of luggage including three car seats. Before boarding the plane, the kids had fun riding the monorail and the moving sidewalk. The flight was very smooth. Sophia, Andrew, and Madeline were very excited. They loved flying through the clouds.

When we arrived in LA, we got our rental car after a few minutes of searching for the reservation. Apparently, it was under a different name than ours. The drive to San Diego was beautiful. We drove through the mountains and were able to see the ocean from the highway. Unfortunately, the kids were so tired from the early morning traveling that they were all asleep. Maybe they can enjoy it on the way back.

After checking into the hotel we went for dinner (or lunch according to San Diego time). We had some pizza and stopped at a grocery store to pick up some snacks. When we arrived back at the hotel we explored all the areas of the hotel. Andrew was excited because there is a pool table (which is something he played constantly with while in the hospital). Sophia is excited because there is a pool and hot tub. It was too cold to go swimming last night, but hopefully we will be able to do that today. Madeline is just excited to be in a hotel. She keeps jumping on the bed and then laughing.

Today we head to the San Diego Zoo. We will post some pictures later today.