Graphing

This weekend Riley is weened off his steroids. Every Sunday we have been cutting back on his Prednizone dose. We are down to just 10 ml Gram or 1 pill. We started at 35. This is the immune suppressant used to prevent Riley from having seizures or reactions from the horse drug they used to shock his system. We will have been home 3 weeks.



Once the prednizone stops we are hopeful the white cells will start to grow. Tom charted all the numbers last night. He put normal on the graph and then graphed Riley's number. Sh#$$@. After I looked at the chart I told Tom not to dwell. He said he had waited until now to do the graphs so that we could watch the improvement happen. I pray he is right.



The charts look something like a geology cut away. The top line being the surface of the earth and our goal. Then way down at the bottom of the page are all these these little dots linked by a line that looks something like a roller coaster. Its a long way to the surface, even at the tops of the curve. Somehow we have to get that line of dots to start going up. Its like bringing diamonds to the surface.



I was asked about supplements. I found there are too many dangerous side effect we don't know about. Vitamin K is a blood thinner. Vitamin A is dangerous. Because Red transfusions cause toxic levels of iron to build up and stress the liver, any multi vitamin with Iron is dangerous. The list goes on as you start to look at each individual vitamin, until you just throw up your hands and say OK no supplements. Besides its new blood each week and you just don't know what is already in it.



Riley is supposed to have only pealed fruits or well washed. He is to have boiled vegetables as a precaution for contaminates. So we try and encourage healthy eating habits. Eating right now is not a problem. He eats everything. A friend sent us cookies. I never got to see them because the boys opened the box and they were gone, all ten within a few minutes. She sent me pictures of them because she had decorated them in cougar colors with the boy's old football numbers on them. She wanted my thoughts on them for her new business she is opening making custom cookies. I had to tell her I never got to see them. They were that good, so the boys tell me.



Last night another friend dropped off dinner for tonight. Well, it didn't last until tonight. We had already had dinner when she came. Once she left, Riley dug into that stew as if I had not fed him all day. We have barely any left for Tom to eat. There was plenty to begin with, but you would think I starve my boys the way they are responding to all these meals I didn't cook. I did try the stew myself and it was good. Well, I just tell Tom if I was a good cook I'd be really fat, so look at it as a silver lining.