7/22 - Up and Up

It's been a while since our last post, so I thought I'd send out an update.  Peter's been doing well for the last week plus - no visible symptoms, still happy, getting to be more interactive.  His newest thing is to sit up in his "Bumbo" seat to watch us eat dinner. I guess he wants to see what good things he has to look forward to once he finishes with breast milk. <smiles> Peter had another blood test today (Friday) and his counts continued their steady increase. His platelets are now up to 229,000 - the first time they've qualified as "normal" since we started this whole trip - and his red blood cell counts are steady.  Taken together, we fell very blessed to have a healthy boy on our hands and we are increasingly hopeful that this is a remission.

The only thing on our watch list at the moment is a side effect of the medication (6MP, an immune suppressant).  His white blood cell count has gone down each of the last two times they've done the blood test.  Since white blood cells enforce immune response, this likely indicates that the 6MP is a little too effective at its job. Still, it's not a huge concern as the white counts are only slightly low. So the doctors scaled back his dosage a bit and want to keep him on the medication for at least two more weeks. At that point we'll do another blood test.  If his counts are still high, we'll have the discussion about whether we should take him off the medication to see if he does fine on his own or leave him on the 6MP just to be on the safe side.

Funny story, though.  During today's blood draw, Peter squirmed a little bit while they were getting the needle in.  But he was bundled up and had his pacifier and I was right there with him, so he calmed down pretty quick.  And then he fell asleep.  While they were still taking his blood.  I kid you not.  They got all the blood, took out the needle, took off the tourniquet, put on a band-aid ... the little dude was out. He didn't wake up until I put him in his carseat. I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that our child is so comfortable around needles, but it definitely beats the alternative.