Harry's still home (message from Cynthia)

Hi everyone,

Well, Harry and I went to clinic this morning with the trunk of the car full of our 'hospital stuff', expecting to be admitted for Round 6 of chemotherapy, a 48-hour VAC round. However, while his white blood cell count and neutrophils (related to WBC) were good, his platelets were too low (58) to start chemo today (they need to be at least 75). The GCSF shot he gets to encourage WBC regeneration has the side effect of supressing platelet and hemoglobin recovery. So, in order to give his platelets a chance to recover more, we'll wait another week to start the next round of chemotherapy. That means Round 6 will start next Friday (June 27th) instead and we'll be in for the weekend, till Sunday night (June 27-29).

Harry's paediatric oncologist said this is nothing to be concerned about, and really par for the course by Round 6 of chemotherapy. On the upside, giving his counts another week to recover should hopefully mean we'll make it through this VAC round without a bout of febrile neutropenia. So we have an extra week at home. Harry is feeling so good it will be nice to have an extra week to enjoy life at home.

Since his WBC / neutrophils have risen Harry is doing really well. He has recovered nicely from his episode of febrile neutopenia last week. His counts are good and his energy level and joyous spirit are just amazing. He is a constant source of wonder for us - he approaches each day with such pure joy and love. No matter how he feels, he always has a ready smile for us.

He is so close to walking we can all taste it! He loves to now push his 'hippo car' up and down the sidewalk all by himself now. He can stand on his own for a second or two and can take a wee step between two people if 'safe hands' are very close by. He is also communicating constantly these days. He signs, "please", "thank you", "all done", "hello / bye bye", "where is", and "hand washing". He also blows the most wonderful kisses (and gives real kisses too). He points and says "dat dat dat" when he wants something, and eagerly points out to us the things he sees and recognizes in his world. He continues to just love the bus and his ears perk up when he hears it going by the house - he looks and points at the window. Lawn mowers and motorcycles are two other recent fascinations. Could he be a boy???

He still gets all of his nutrition via the feeding tube and nursing, but he is really very interested in trying to eat, or at least go through the motions, which is very important. In the morning he demands a cereal bowl and spoon just like Lydia - he is getting very good at dipping his spoon in milk and getting it to his lips. He wants to have a bite of whatever we are having, though he usually spits things out rather than swallowing; that will come when we are done with the feeding tube. It is great that he is still interested in trying to put food in his mouth. He also thinks it is fun to feed Henry and me finger foods.

Harry also seems to be a decided south paw: he does everything with his left hand, much to his father's (and fellow lefty's) delight. He has grown an inch - he is now 30.5 inches (77 cm) - and though his weight is holding steady at 20.6 lbs (9.3 kg), he looks chubbier and very healthy. He has also now transitioned to just one afternoon nap a day. He's still up once at night to nurse (around 3 am), but most nights does go back to sleep and sleeps till 7 am. It will be soooooooooooo wonderful when he finally sleeps through the night! But this is one step closer, for which we are so thankful!

Lydia is very happy to have Harry home for another week. She is sad every time he goes into the hospital. The day before / day of his admission is always hard for her. But she really does well overall and manages to adapt and stay cheery most of the time.

As for Henry and me, it always causes us an initial feeling of panic whenever something new or not exactly expected crops up. We are both feeling pretty anxious and frustrated by the fact that we still have not heard anything from Sick Kids. We figure we had better be a squeaky wheel - we have the number for the paediatric liver specialist here in Winnipeg and so we are going to start bugging her directly to see what is up. We would just like an update to know where they are at in their decision-making process.

We really believe that now, more than ever, we need to ask for everyone, everywhere who is praying for, meditating on, or thinking positive thoughts about Harry to really, really, really intensely focus your prayers/meditations/positive thoughts on a very clear intention of complete healing and recovery for Harry.

Henry and I truly believe in the healing power of prayer. So we humbly ask that everyone hold and deeply BELIEVE in your hearts a very clear intention that Harry is cancer-free, that the tumours are gone and that he is completely healed and back to full-health.

As we continue to step one day at a time on this journey of healing, we are deeply thankful for all of your love and support. We BELIEVE deep in our hearts that Harry is healed and we are journeying one day at a time to that place of complete healing. We ask you to truly believe in Harry's full recovery and every time you think/pray/meditate on Harry hold this belief in your heart.

Thank you! Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Cynthia, Henry, Lydia and Harry