DOT +7

Hey everyone!! I cannot believe it has been a whole week since Patrick received his 7.31 MILLION stem cells!! God is good! Mom is finally back in Durham, she was so happy to see him. Patrick had another good day today. His potassium was a little low, so he had another IV. His platelets are continuing to fall, but they will not give him any until they are less than 10. His appetite is pretty good but food is not tasty and very metallic. Patrick is still tired, but he took a stroll around the apartment grounds and did great! Hopefully each day he will stroll further as it is very important to exercise to get his blood flowing and things moving around. Hair is still around… yippee!! They say he will lose it about 2 weeks after chemo, which is approaching. This will be the one time Mom will ever let him have a Mohawk… ha!

We are lucky to have a great PA that we have seen almost every day, his name is Brent. He always has plenty of time for questions and describes everything to a tee, which Mom loves. Patrick humors the clinic staff with his array of Hawaiian shirts. They vary from pink flamingos, its five o’clock somewhere, Hawaiian flowers, to beautiful bright fish. The shirts are quite a conversation piece. 

We are truly grateful that Patrick continues to have good days. We know that there will be some not so good days in the future, so each good day we have is a gift. For the next 2 weeks or so, we are in the waiting period. When Patrick’s white count starts to rise, this will hopefully mean the donor cells are moving in!

I would like to share a story by Anne Lamott that Ms. Bradbury, the Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Student Life at Saint Mary’s, told me at the beginning of the year. It is very inspiring and helps me get through things one step at a time.

"Years ago my older brother, who was ten years old, was trying to finish a written report on birds. He was given three months to write it, and it was now due the next day. He was sitting at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by paper, pencils, and unopened books on birds. My father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."

Patrick,

Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird! I love you!

-Mary

Labs from today:

Test	Patrick	Normal Range
White Blood Cell Count	<0.10	3.2-9.8 (this will go to zero)
Hemoglobin	12.7	13.7-17.3 (they try and keep it above 8.0)
Platelet Count	41	150-450 (they try and keep it above 10)

Patrick and Brent (a little blurry!!)