Numbers

I always said shopping is a great distraction. Buying a house is a huge distraction. Riley had his doctors appointment on the 14th of July. It was barely a blip on my radar. Such a big event has become standard fare these days.

Trevor went with us as we were headed up to Longview for Trevor's mandatory evening football practices before camp next week. Riley stopped by the lab for his blood draw then we went to lunch at the cafeteria. As usual the food was unremarkable. We were early for our appointment so we got to watch the end of a Disney Movie in the waiting room, Ice Age 3 or something. The boys look huge hanging out in the children's waiting room.

At the nurses station check in, Riley was 5 foot 11, and 59 kilos, or 130 pounds, as I said skin and bones on that boy. He was offered a sucker and turned it down politely. He thinks the suckers are childish. He smiles and laughs politely each time they offer it. It always surprises me when he doesn't accept because he has such a sweet tooth. Breakfast had been Bacon and cake with cream cheese icing. Riley makes cake or brownies when ever he can, when what he really needs is some good healthy food. I put eggs in front of him but he'll take only one or two bites and leave most of it on his plate.

Once we got into our room to wait, the 8 x8 room seemed small with two big boys in it. The arm rest snapped off on a chair while we waited, but I swear it was loose before we arrived to completely break it. Trevor couldn't help wiggling it to see why it was loose.

The doctor arrived. He said Riley should do PE this year as his numbers had stabilized. They were just below normal, but "just." They have pretty much been the same for the last few visits. 150 is considered low normal. The doctor said the modest differences were statistically insignificant. In his mind Riley has stabilized. He said the next big test would be once Riley was completely off the drugs to see what his numbers do then, if they continue to hold or change.

Riley is now going to be taking 50 milligrams of Cyclosporin morning and night, 100 a day. His next appointment is September 18. He was told by between Thanksgiving and Christmas he would be completely off the drugs. The magnesium will also be declining and the antibiotics will stop when the cyclosporin stops.

Platelets were 138.
Hemoglobin was a wonderful 12.6
Whites were 3.4

There was new cell production. Though lower than before. But Riley hasn't been sick lately to boost any numbers artificially.

Tom didn't come with us. He was disappointed that I hadn't asked if we could be more swift in the decline on the medication. But there is a protocol in place that we are following. I like to follow protocol though I understand Tom's argument. It also costs us $1000 on our deductible this year every time we see the doctor. I believe I have enough of the pills to get us to the end with out ordering more now that he is taking so much less. I am guessing we will have an appointment in November and then one in January. We just don't know how often followup check ups will be over the next few years. It would be nice if we could do the blood draws in Longview and not have to do the drive.

Tom will have to get over his protective streak. We were supposed to go boating but the weather was not condussive. Tom didn't like the idea of boating at all, it made him nervous. Now the doctor says Riley should do PE. No contact sports but Riley can get on with a normal life, live a little. The defining moment will be when Riley is completely off the immune suppressants.

Meanwhile though, we still keep a fairly clean environment. Riley has his air filter in his room. We will be thoroughly cleaning the new house before Riley moves in. We wouldn't want anyone to catch the Hunta virus from the mice that took up residence before we did.
I have plenty of time to make this all work. The constant rain might not show it yet, but we are seeing the gold at the end of the rainbow.