Mom's Favorite May Picture

All Boy!

John has recently taken to being a fine example of a little boy! This week he successfully pet a frog and rode the riding lawn mower. Now we just need a John Deere hat and a worm in his pocket....

Ear Infections and Runny Noses

After our last post about the trip to Children's Hospital we diligently gave John tylenol and benedryl as directed. The tylenol kept the fever at a constant 102 (down from the normal 104) and the benedryl, which was supposed to help him sleep through the night, instead helped him wake up every 45 minutes all night long for two nights. Needless to say, after night two we gave up on the benedryl.

On Monday (after 5 days of fevers) John went back to the pediatrician where we learned he had a full blown ear infection in his right ear again! So he got a shot of antibiotics and a new oral antibiotic to help with the ear infection. His poor nose runs constantly! I've taken to giving him Zyrtec at night to help him dry out (and I think it's helping with his sleep too). Overall, he's been doing progressively better all week long. We've had blood counts checked again and they are still holding steady.

We'll be back at the doctor on Wednesday for another 'all-clear' and the approval to let John fly to NC this upcoming weekend. Keep your fingers crossed and say some prayers for us!

Last week was rough, this week is better. We're on the up and up now and ready to start feeling well enough to enjoy this wonderful summer weather!

Even Superman Needs A Teddy Bear

Yesterday we noticed John was running a fever of 102 (in typical John fashion he was in a pleasant mood, playing, giggling and cooing, but he was physically roasting so we took his temperature). We took him to the pediatrician who said that there is a virus going around and to watch his temp, give him tylenol, and encourage as much liquid consumption as possible. No problem!

However, we woke up this morning to a baby who's temperature had spiked to 104. After we got it down to 102, called the pediatrician, and got him a bottle of pedialyte, we talked to Heme/Onc at Children's Hospital. Dr. Bednarski was worried his blood counts would drop with such a high fever and strong virus. Needless to say, we packed up John and headed to Children's ER where they ran several blood tests and did a urinalysis. Luckily, Heme/Onc had called the ER and told them we were coming so when we got there we were rushed right into a room.

It seemed to take forever for the labs to be drawn and the results to come back...so we took a couple laps around the ER in a wagon (Children's uses padded Radio Flyer wagons to transport little ones instead of wheelchairs like they use for the older kids...frankly, it's quite cute and since John wasn't feeling particularly bad he really enjoyed it). And while we were out on our tour of the ER one of the nurses gave John a teddy bear to play with! Good trip!

Garcia Are Tough! The blood work came back fine. (A little lower than last week, but nothing to worry about). He's lost about 1lb since last week but that didn't bother the doctor because John was well-hydrated and still had good color in his lips and cheeks. After 5 hours at the ER and a number of doctors, nurses, needles and catheters, John was discharged with instructions for tylenol and benedryl. Not bad!

I Can Feed Myself!

Since I have mastered Cheerios, Gerber puffs and yogurt melt-a-ways, it was time to tackle bigger and better foods! So I got down to my diaper, headed outside with my highchair, and tackled some chocolate pudding....

A LITTLE APPREHENSIVE

LOVING EVERY MINUTE

I LOVE CHOCOLATE PUDDING!!!

HERSHEY - HERE I COME!

Mom took me inside and tossed me straight into the bathtub where I was hosed off with the shower head. Dad took the garden hose to the highchair and the tray table.

What a team they are!

Blood Work Results

Children's Hospital Heme/Onc called this morning with good news! John's hemeglobin is going up for a change! His count is at 12.5 (well within the normal range now) and his hematacrit, which measures how well he's producing red blood cells, is at 35.1 which in on the low side of normal. The folic acid seems to be helping. We've been transfusion free since February 6th which seems like forever when we started this doing transfusions every 9 days.

John heads back to the clinic the first week of June for his 3rd appointment with Dr. Bednarski. If he holds out on needing blood until then we're hopeful that we can send more of his blood off to the Mayo Clinic again for testing. In the meantime, it seems like STL is doing us well and John is on his way to a full recovery!