Double Prayers Today - Jack and Baby Ira
So far so good. We are hunkered down in the house and none are worse for the wear. Sarah brought over a tub full of goodies yesterday for the kids to play with, thanks to Riley and Ashley for sharing them with us. Karene brought a yummy meal, we had a fun day at home. Rob is going to take Derek out for a movie or something tonight to celebrate his birthday, tomorrow we will have his cake and balloons, with the 5 of us and hopefully Tom and Elaine (Rob's mom) if they are at the top of their game healthy. I am lucky to have such flexible kids.
------------------------------
On the sidebar is Brooklyn and Beyond Blog please pray for the Hays family. Their baby Ira has severely compromised health and is in the hospital with RSV. One of his lungs collapsed last night. When you read people's blogs regularly you feel like you get to know them, even if you might never have met face to face. This is a family who is working on a church plant supported by the Manhattan C of C. Their baby Ira was born with alot of different complications and stayed in the PICU for 6 months after his birth, they got to come home about a month ago, and now Ira is sick and back in the hospital. They have a young daughter Sophia so for the most part the parents are trading off back and forth who is at the hospital and who is home. You can click on Brooklyn and Beyond and it will keep you posted on Ira's status.
-----------------------------
Amber Joy asked what does ANC mean I thought I would post it up front just incase anyone else was wondering:
ANC in medicine, absolute neutrophil count, a measure of the real or actual number of white blood cells a patient has to fight infection.
I don't know what is normal for someone who is not undergoing chemo, but for kids that are, you want that number to be over 1000. Between 500-1000 is a danger zone, but they can still get chemo. 500 and below is very dangerous, basically there is no immune system capabilities, a common cold could be life-threatening. If there are any symptoms of illness the child needs to be put in the hospital and on iv antibiotics. We would not be here if that happened. With Jack's current condition and the fact he is on chemo would make it necessary for him to be at Cook's Children's in Ft. Worth, or Dallas Children's. Because Jack's counts were 11 yesterday and we are not looking for that to happen, it makes it necessary for us to be home and keeping him away from any germs that could make him sick.
In the beginning of chemo I was scared to death to take him to Walmart or HEB or anywhere there were large crowds, we sanitized hands all the time, then as his counts for the most part stayed strong, I was able to let me guard down. Jack has been tolerating the chemo pretty well up to this point, I do feel lucky that this is really the first time his immune system has severely faultered from the chemo. When the Oncologist in Dallas spoke to us a while ago he said that there were regular ebbs and flows in the chemo and how your body tolerates it. There were typical weeks that were consistant with everyone that their numbers would fall. I am assuming that is what is happening now.
Please remember Jack and Baby Ira in your prayers today.
Gratefully, Tammy
------------------------------
On the sidebar is Brooklyn and Beyond Blog please pray for the Hays family. Their baby Ira has severely compromised health and is in the hospital with RSV. One of his lungs collapsed last night. When you read people's blogs regularly you feel like you get to know them, even if you might never have met face to face. This is a family who is working on a church plant supported by the Manhattan C of C. Their baby Ira was born with alot of different complications and stayed in the PICU for 6 months after his birth, they got to come home about a month ago, and now Ira is sick and back in the hospital. They have a young daughter Sophia so for the most part the parents are trading off back and forth who is at the hospital and who is home. You can click on Brooklyn and Beyond and it will keep you posted on Ira's status.
-----------------------------
Amber Joy asked what does ANC mean I thought I would post it up front just incase anyone else was wondering:
ANC in medicine, absolute neutrophil count, a measure of the real or actual number of white blood cells a patient has to fight infection.
I don't know what is normal for someone who is not undergoing chemo, but for kids that are, you want that number to be over 1000. Between 500-1000 is a danger zone, but they can still get chemo. 500 and below is very dangerous, basically there is no immune system capabilities, a common cold could be life-threatening. If there are any symptoms of illness the child needs to be put in the hospital and on iv antibiotics. We would not be here if that happened. With Jack's current condition and the fact he is on chemo would make it necessary for him to be at Cook's Children's in Ft. Worth, or Dallas Children's. Because Jack's counts were 11 yesterday and we are not looking for that to happen, it makes it necessary for us to be home and keeping him away from any germs that could make him sick.
In the beginning of chemo I was scared to death to take him to Walmart or HEB or anywhere there were large crowds, we sanitized hands all the time, then as his counts for the most part stayed strong, I was able to let me guard down. Jack has been tolerating the chemo pretty well up to this point, I do feel lucky that this is really the first time his immune system has severely faultered from the chemo. When the Oncologist in Dallas spoke to us a while ago he said that there were regular ebbs and flows in the chemo and how your body tolerates it. There were typical weeks that were consistant with everyone that their numbers would fall. I am assuming that is what is happening now.
Please remember Jack and Baby Ira in your prayers today.
Gratefully, Tammy
Comments