PRAISE REPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW! What an incredible move of God this week! So, we have been praying in agreement with so many of you that Samuel's blood counts would recover absolutely so that his treatment plan would not suffer ANY delay today... well, PRAISE GOD because Samuel's ANC this morning had gone from 250 last week to 2300!!!!!!!!!! It would be totally unbelievable except that we've seen God show His awesomeness so many times now that it is amazing to be able to believe + expect this kind of Goodness. Wow, we're still so very excited!

 
The huge jump in ANC meant Samuel was able to receive drugs on schedule, which means ONLY 5 MORE WEEKS OF CHEMO!!!!!!!!!! Whoooohooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

 Getting ready to access

Our sweet girl

 And those silly boys

 Ohhh, Trinity, if you only knew......haha

 Hanging out during Zofram drip

Note the "puke tray" - had a little gagging incident while trying to eat lunch, fortunately it remained empty :)

  ---

The other update is related to the other drug. Vincristine's most common "concerning" side effect is nerve damage to the extremities. For the past several months, Samuel has been experiencing a significant weakening of his "pinch grip" - the strength of index finger + thumb grasping. The weakness has led to difficulty with opening things + writing/drawing. He has had some pain in his feet and has taken to walking very heavy-footed; however he is maintaining pretty good foot strength overall. Because the hand weakness has increased consistently + is now reasonably affecting his normal daily activities, Samuel's doctors made the call to entirely omit Vincristine from today's treatment. Moreover, they've decided to reduce all remaining Vincristine doses (all 5 weeks) by 50%. We are also starting physical therapy to make sure that NONE of the weakness becomes permanent.

All in all, a GREAT Monday at clinic! Samuel did so remarkably well with both access + de-access. He's such a trooper. He sat on Dad's lap + held Mom's hands while Nurse Annie inserted his IV needle; then sat snuggly next to his BFF sister + held Mom's hands while Nurse Eileen did a fantastic job removing bandages, etc + getting that needle out. We were all so proud of him - and he was duly rewarded with home baked cookies before bed! :) Only the best for the very best of children... xo.