Easter Update - A Note From Anneli

(Click on pictures to enlarge)We had a lovely Easter weekend. We first got to enjoy Easter brunch with Elin's family visiting from Sweden and then Emma and Jack hunted for Easter eggs in our back yard. This was later followed with a delicious Easter dinner at a dear family friend's house.

Emma and Jack wore really nice outfits thanks to grandma.
Yesterday morning (Monday), Jack was at the Valerie Center to start his next treatment phase (Interim Maintenance) when they discovered that his ANC was low – only 209 which is real concern as this means he is really prone for infections.

In practical clinical terms, a "safe" ANC is 500-1500; a low ANC is less than 500. A safe ANC means that the patient's activities do not need to be restricted (on the basis of the ANC).

ANC stands for the absolute neutrophil count, the number of white blood cells (WBCs) that are neutrophils.

Neutrophils are key components in the system of defense against infection. An absence or scarcity of neutrophils makes a person vulnerable to infection. After chemotherapy, radiation, or a blood or marrow transplant, the ANC is usually depressed and then slowly rises, reflecting the fact that the bone marrow is recovering and new blood cells are beginning to grow and mature.

As Jack's ANC did not really rise from last week, his doctor scheduled a blood transfusion so that Jack would feel better and we were told that he would go home later Monday afternoon and that he would be “ready to rumble”.

Unfortunately, Jack started running a fever (100.9 F) around lunchtime, which meant that he has to be hospitalized for 48 hours with antibiotics in addition to the blood transfusion.

This also means that Jack was not able to start the next treatment phase.

Cancer is not fun at all and we are slowly learning to adapt to the uncertainty of never knowing what each day is going to bring. The good news is that Jack is in good hands and as you can see in the pictures he had fun celebrating Easter and he is having an equally good time together with daddy at the hospital.