Day 20: The Neutrophil Dance

Yesterday afternoon we had a couple of visitors. First, Pat and Jerry Putman stopped by to wave from the parking deck.

A little later Kevin, Cristina and Ethan Worchester came by and dropped off a couple of gifts for AJ.

This included a beautiful and touching book Cristina created with the children in AJ and Ethan's class at Horizon. Each of the classmates wrote AJ a special note in the book. AJ really enjoyed reading it. He misses his friends. Thank you to Mrs. Towns, Cristina and the kids for this cool scrapbook.

Today we were again surprised by those at Horizon. AJ received in the mail a very nice card with messages from many of the teachers and staff. Its nice to know so many are continuing to pray for AJ.

This afternoon we played more card games. AJ also played checkers and talked to Anna and Ethan on the web cam. For you Jimmy Buffett fans out there, here is the hat of the day:

On the medical front, AJ's counts were again up. Most importantly his neutrophil count was 230. This number is critical for being released from the hospital so we need it to go UP! It needs to be consistently above 500 before the doctors will consider releasing him from the hospital.

We learned today that this number was not solely dependant on the growth of the new marrow. Apparently in the wee hours of the morning, while blood cultures are being drawn, the nurses conduct a Neutrophil Dance. Although it was not time for blood to be drawn, AJ convinced the nurses to let him see the secret dance. About an hour later Brooke and Caroline appeared in our doorway with a completely choreographed song and dance. These photos do not do it justice.

The nurses here are great. We love them all and they all love AJ. These great nurses take care of some really sick kids and do so with unending love and humor.

This is AJ with the whole night shift, Caroline, Kristie, Brooke and Ashley:

-Greg