Day 9

Wednesday.

Day 8

Tuesday.

Day 7

Monday. Day 5 of 10 for this chemo cycle.  This is the last day of the 3 medicines.  Cytarabine he will continue to have every 12 hours for the next 5 days.  But we are done with the Daunorubicin and Etoposide!  Those are the harder treatments.  The Etoposide has a side effect of lowering your blood pressure too low.  They check his blood pressure every 15 minutes for the 4 hours it takes to administer Etoposide.  Daunorubicin takes 6 hours to administer.  It is red in color.  Kinda a funny effect of that one is it turns your pee red!  Glad they warned us about that one! :) 
     Riley is hanging in so well. This morning his labs came back with his red blood cells too low.  Yay for the chemo working.  Not so great for feeling good.  He was so tired I could hardly wake him to take his pills and get weighed.  He received 2 units of red blood cells transfused.  Later this afternoon he was practically racing me around the halls doing his 15 laps.  (one lap for every year old you are... that is the rule:)
     The kids went to Phoenix today to stay with Uncle Westen and Aunt LaDawn and cousins.  They were very excited.  I'm so thankful that we have so many who care for our family and are willing to help us in any way.  The kids will have a great time.  After work Vince came to the hospital and brought Riley  "In & Out".  It was a request!  He has not had an appetite at all so Vince was so excited to bring him "anything at all"!  He ate it all up!  AND it tasted good!  That is huge!  One of the side effects of chemo is that you lose your sense of taste.  After In & Out, Riley had some Hershey Chocolate and milk.  He took one bite and said it tasted like nothing.  He then drank the milk and said it tasted like water.  Poor kid.  Not fair!

Labs today:
White blood cells:  0.8  (normal 4.5 - 13.5)
Red Blood cells:  7  (normal 13.5 - 17.5)    (received 2 units)
Platelets: 36 (normal 150 - 425)
ANC:  104
Blasts: 1

Day 6

Sunday.

Day 5

Saturday.  Today was full of visitors.  What a blessing that Riley is so loved!! 
Mr. Dozier (Riley's Marine Biology teacher) brought a book signed by Riley's friends and classmates.  He stayed for quite awhile. 

Papa brought a milkshake and his life story for Riley to read.
Ernest, a great friend of Riley's,  stayed for a while.  They played a few games and even went on a walk with Riley around the floor to get his exercise for the day.

Chrissy Beach, a good friend of ours, Riley has babysat for her.
Uncle Don, all the way from St. David (happened to be in town today).
Grandma and Grandpa Gibson, who came into town last night and have been helping with the kids at home. 
Vince brought Preston, Wyatt, Brenna and Bryant after the ward Christmas Party.  Bryant has been here before, but this was the first time for the other kids.  They weren't sure what to think. I walked them out and they checked out the cool lobby of Diamond Childrens Hospital (UMC).

Labs today:

White blood cells:  1.1  (normal 4.5 - 13.5)
Red Blood cells: 7.8  (normal 13.5 - 17.5)
Platelets:  58  (normal 150 - 425)
ANC:  242   ( < 500 = severely neutropenic) (normal 2,000 - 5,000)

Day 4

Friday.  Today I took Riley on a little tour to the lobby of Diamond Childrens Hospital.  When he was admitted we were in the main UMC part of the hospital and they took us the "back way" to get to the 6th floor of Diamond Childrens.  The lobby is impressive and the doctor told Riley that he better go see it now because very soon he won't be able to leave his unit.  Riley will be living in his own little bubble for a while!  (Not literally, but kinda :)

Riley had a lot of visitors this afternoon.  He enjoyed hanging out with friends and feeling so much support.  This is a picture of his English teacher, Miss Frieden.  She had all her classes sign this big poster for Riley!  Awesome! 

Riley continues to amaze me with his strength!  Really... he is amazing to be around!

Labs today:
White blood cells:  1.4  (normal 4.5 - 13.5)
Red Blood cells: 7.8  (normal 13.5 - 17.5)
Platelets:  63  (normal 150 - 425)
ANC:  294   ( < 500 = severely neutropenic) (normal 2,000 - 5,000)

Day 3

Thursday.  This was the kid's last day of school before Christmas break.  Vince got them off and then came to the hospital.  The three of us hung out and talked and enjoyed our time together.  Then the doctors came in and delivered news we were not expecting.  Riley had AML.  Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  We were expecting the more common, ALL.  ALL would have meant a few days of chemo, a week in the hospital total.  Then of course coming back for treatments pretty consistently.  But he would have been able to go home.  AML is a more aggressive cancer.  It is therefore treated very aggressively.  Riley would be in the hospital for the long haul of treatment.  5 months.  We had been studying up on leukemia and knew that we did not want AML.  When the doctor informed us that is what he had, I felt weak in my knees.  I felt as though the rug had just been pulled out from under me.  I look over at Vince and Riley and I could feel the weight of this on all of us.  Riley started to ask questions of the doctor.  I was still in shock about the whole thing and Riley is asking smart questions.  He is amazing!  So the next step is to find out the cellular make up.  Which chromosomes make up the cell.  There are 3 categories.  Good, meaning that the chemo has been found to work on these cells and all is well.  Intermediate, meaning sometimes the chemo works and sometimes it doesn't.  And Poor, meaning they have not found the chemo to work.  They would now need to send his labs off to determines the chromosome make up.  Another waiting game. 
This was a very hard day.  The reality of it all was hitting us... hard.

Our view from Riley's window

Labs today:

White blood cells: 1.2 (normal 4.5 - 13.5)

Red Blood cells: 8.3 (normal 13.5 - 17.5)
Platelets: 71 (normal 150 - 425)
ANC:  ( < 500 = severely neutropenic)

Blasts:  2