Arthur Kirkland W. Carpenter: Looking steady, looking good...

In Short:
Results: Newt count:1,600 (woo-hoo!)
Platelets: 544 (still a little on the high side)
Weight: N/A
Age: 6 weeks

So...this news really lifted my confidence that we may be holding steady and staying above water for the long term. I even asked the UVA nurse practitioner who reported the number to me if I should continue getting the CBC every week. I personally don't mind ever week but I know I'm only doing it for my sake and really, why put Arthur through that if he doesn't need it every week? She said it makes sense to start every other week at RMH (my local hospital) and once a month at UVA (Dec. 3rd we are scheduled to be there).

For Arthur we went with super-simple this year for Halloween - a hand-me-down pumpkin fleece -Thank you, Alisha!

The best I could get of Lil and her brother, she is a moving target (you can't really see her costume here.)

The downside of not going to UVA is I'm not able to talk to the doctor face to face and pick her brain. Come December 3rd I'll be looking forward to asking her several question - does she think this is just the effects of the IVIG (which I know there is no way to tell unless after a few more weeks his ANC suddenly drops - and if it stays steady it could be that the IVIG had him in a holding pattern till my antibodies wore out and died off, which we probably won't ever now either - maybe if there is a slight drop we could conjecture that). So really, the question is kinda pointless...I guess it shows I'm still worried we might find him back at zero again and I just wish I could know for sure what's what rather than wonder.

I also want to ask about the long term possible long term affects of being on two big antibiotics at such a young age. There is so much new insight in the medical world on "good bacteria" on and in our bodies. In light of that I'm curious what if anything his doctors might say.

Love my monkey clothes -thanks Lauren!

It was a bit grueling yesterday as I didn't get the news 'till 4:00 and I expected to know by 3:00 on Monday. The draw went super smoothly, there was no wait before, it all was a cinch. But for some reason communication failed and RMH did not report the results to his pediatrician or UVA. After having to call around yesterday I finally got it worked out but it was annoying to have to deal with and unexpected after how well it went last week at RMH. That's medical stuff for you - if it's not one thing it's something else. But, I'll take even that vs. going to UVA - and mosty because being able to go RMH means he's doing great!