Accessed

JP's port has been "accessed" since he was admitted last Friday. That means that there is a needle in his chest (just like an IV but more permanent) so we can administer medications and draw blood as necessary. The port is a wonderful thing - it's so easy to access and with the help of his numbing cream he never feels a poke.

The plan for now is that he's on antibiotics through his port every 8 hours and has blood drawn every other day until his ANC reaches at least 500. It was 400 on Monday so we thought today he might get to be de-accessed and the medications round the clock might stop. Nope - he dropped to 100! That worries me because it makes me think he might be getting sick and his little body is trying to fight it as best he can... 100 is low. I get nervous whenever he's below 500. When I spoke to the doctor they were asking how he was acting and were hinting at maybe wanting him to come in for a check-up and some transfusions. We decided to wait and see where his levels are on Friday and will probably be heading in at least for some blood. That also makes me nervous because we wonder if his last blood transfusion may have caused his fever that admitted him. We still don't know what caused it. They said his urine might be showing something but it wasn't conclusive. Who knows.

We decided to go ahead with the pictures we had lined up for tonight, even though his numbers are low, because we knew we would be outside and not near people. Poor JP has been locked up in our house for going on seven weeks now. That's hard for an almost-3-year-old that loves to play sports and be active. We just haven't dared take him anywhere that he might get sick. You never know what kind of germs are out there.

Anyway, he was sleepy when we first got there but warmed up pretty fast once he saw we were surrounded by trains. He had to try opening each door and look in all the windows. He was happy to show off his port as long as it meant he got to stay on the trains. He is our cute little Utes and Braves fan, and if you didn't see his bald head or port in his chest you'd never think this litte guy has cancer. I had this idea behind him wearing his Braves jersey... I thought if you could see the port through his Braves shirt it would be a two-fold message. One: that he's a Braves fan and two: that he is literally so brave. We love our little man and are so glad he's ours.

Now it's time for bed since we have another dose to administer bright and early!