Day 5- ANC being zero

Puppet pretzel appears again!

Luckily, Matt and I are very patient people…we are still in real estate after all. But, this is starting to get crazy. This is the fifth day Carter’s ANC has been zero. He does seem happy and stronger each day, which is definitely important. I don’t think any of us knew how much his body was wiped out from this round of chemo until it happened. Two of the oncologists that saw Carter those first couple days tell us now they were worried about him when we first came in, but now they said he looks and acts like himself and they aren’t concerned. No wonder Matt and I were so worried about him at home two weeks ago. Chemo wipes out good and bad cells, so we are hoping it wiped out A LOT of bad cells too…since it obviously did some damage to the good cells this round.

They retested yesterday for para flu by squeezing some liquid up one nostril and suctioning it out the other nostril to get a sample. You can imagine how much Carter likes this procedure. We got the results today and the para influenza three is gone. Now, no masks are necessary around Carter. Although, Matt and I sort of wish the nurses would still wear them because his immune system is so shot right now. He obviously got para flu from the hospital the last round of chemo, considering he hadn’t been exposed to anything else and started coughing two days after leaving.

Dad is at the hospital tonight, which allowed Bennett and Mom to go swimming today…even though Bennett asked if I could go swimming with my big belly! I told him I got a big belly bathing suit. Bennett is becoming a great swimmer, and I was so happy to finally be able to see for myself.

Each and every day we are moved by all the support we have received. It really is incredible. We get letters, blog postings, and emails every day and we save each and every one. It is so appreciated and helps us out so much. This past week we wanted to acknowledge a few special people. There is a little girl in Malibu and I went to high school with her mom. Instead of gifts for her birthday, she asked her friends to bring donations for Carter. What an incredible little girl with a big heart! Thanks Dylan! And another mother and son who are friends with Matt’s aunt in Idaho did a bike race in honor of Carter. Thank you! These are just a couple examples of what amazing people we have cheering on Carter. THANK YOU THANK YOU!!