St. George, Easter & 9 Months!

It's crazy to think we have been on this journey for the past 9 months. That's at least one (usually more) poke a week for 39 weeks, which makes for one TOUGH boy! Although it's still a daily struggle, we are beyond grateful for each and every moment we get with Colton and so thankful for all the love and support from our family and friends.  Overall, things seem to be looking up.  We celebrated Easter with our family last weekend and we were able to take Colton to Easter Egg hunt with his cousins.  Yesterday's results seemed to have confirmed this as the doctors were extremely happy with Colton's counts.  His platelets and red blood cells are back in normal ranges and have maintained themselves for an extended period of time. Although this doesn't mean he's recovered, at least it feels like we can begin to breathe again. His tests from yesterday also confirmed, at least for now, his body is no longer hemolyzing his red blood cells.  This is huge news and so exciting because he's currently not producing the antibody against his red blood cells. On the flip side, his white blood cells are still low and the doctors are running some more tests to figure out if it is an antibody (destruction) or production problem. We should have those results on Friday. Of course we know things can change at any minute but for now we will embrace the good news!

Since, the doctors had to run a bunch of tests on his blood yesterday, he had to have a vein poke. He didn't like it much, but he is always such a tough boy. We also lucked out and were able to have Ryan draw his blood.

Colton and Mommy went on a date trip to St. George for a long weekend. Colton had a blast swimming, hiking, playing at the splash pad, taking lots of walks, playing in the sand, catching fish and being the center of attention

Colton is still house bound since his ANC is so low, but we did make an exception to celebrate Easter with all his cousins, which made for one extremely happy boy.

The plan going forward is to continue to watch him for any changes or fevers and have him checked again in 2 weeks! Yah for another week off with no pokes!

Stats From Wednesday's Visit (April 23rd):

• White Blood Count (WBC) - 4.5 (normal range is 6.0 to 17.0)
• Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) - .6 (normal range is above 1.5)
• Platelets - 189 (normal range is 150 to 400)
• Hemoglobin (HGB) - 11.7 (normal range is 11.5 to 13.5)
• Hematocrit (HCT) - 34.6 (normal range is 34.0 to 40.0)
• Red Blood Count (RBC) - 4.43 (normal range is 3.9 to 5.3)

Trip to St. George

Easter With Cousins

Sometimes Uncle Brant Comes To Visit When We Are At The Hospital

Happy Boy After The Hospital

Showing Off His Poke