Motormouth is Back

As our staff writer Francesca pointed out in this morning's report, Carson perked up considerably today. He started off a little groggy, but the steroids started to kick in by late morning and got him going.

One of the side effects of steroids is increased hunger - particularly strong cravings for sweets. Knowing this, of course, my next question is: Are the nurses slipping the rest of us steroids, too?? At one point after lunch Carson looked over and out of the blue yelled out, "I WANT A CUPCAKE!!!" We haven't had a cupcake in ages, so we're not sure where the heck that idea came from. Nevertheless, it got me thinking about cupcakes, too.

Fueling up on Frosted Flakes...make it a double!

This afternoon Jennifer and Francesca went home to take care of a few things - namely to switch out DVDs. While they were away Carson woke up from his nap and his activity switch was on FULL BLAST. Within minutes we were mobile - on the blue and yellow race car doing laps around the oncology ward. The poor lady trying to collect the dirty lunch trays...we must have nearly run her over 10 times. (Sorry!)

We made several trips to the helicopter bridge and the outdoor play yard. Carson rode the big wheel around the play yard until the battery on his IV drip monitor died. Fortunately the nurses did not get upset. Back in the room...and back on a/c power...Carson was unrelenting. He plowed through his mac-n-cheese and a dinner roll like he hadn't eaten in days. Which is all basically true...he hasn't eaten much for the past week, really.

And did I mention the motormouth? It's back. He was talking nonstop - which is exactly what he does when he's feeling good. He seemed to feel better today than he has in a couple of weeks.

Future yard maintenance superhero. The newly arrived chainsaw and goggles are liberated from their toys-r-us box and prominently put on display for all to see.

In medical news, here's where we stand 72 hours after diagnosis:

• The noon blood tests today came back with a white blood cell count of 14,900, 47 % of which is leukemia. 24 hours earlier, a few hours before the chemo treatment, he had a white blood cell count of 177,000, 86% of which was leukemia. This is a huge drop and made the doctors VERY happy...and I like it when they are happy. Pray this continues.
  

• A slight correction to the first post on how long we will be in the hospital. The "best case scenario" is 7 - 10 days. Usually it's more like 20 - 30. It's really hard to say because it all depends on how well Carson is doing. His immune system is shot. Little did we know he probably hasn't had any normal white blood cells in his body for the last couple of weeks. Infections and fevers are common side effects during the treatment. Please pray we these side effects will be few and far between.
  

• So far Carson has been able to tolerate all the different medications...and we pray it stays that way. Even the nurses marvel at how well Carson takes the incredibly yucky oral medications. (I know I would not be nearly as cooperative!) As anticipated, Carson's hemoglobin and platelet levels have dropped. Sometime in the next 24 hours he will probably require a transfusion to boost those numbers.
  

Please keep the prayers coming. We had a great day today, but it's a long, long road ahead!

And if you are wondering if we gave in and got Carson a cupcake, the answer is NO. What kind of parents do you think we are? We got him some Skittles, instead.

Paul.