...and it certainly wasn’t pretty, but I think we’ve managed to avoid an emergency hospitalization during this cycle. 

We checked Ethan's counts last Monday and they were much higher then usual for Day 8, so I figured that the switch to Carboplatin was going to buy us a few more days before the neutropenia set in.  Thursday morning – Day 11 – Ethan woke up and was running a fever.  It was a day early and I was shocked!  I didn’t believe he’d be neutropenic already and the fever was relatively low (101.5) so I was pretty relaxed about it.  We had an appointment scheduled for 10:00 and sure enough - he was more neutropenic then he’s ever been.   They usually do a manual count of segs and bands and usually get one or two of each, but this time there was NOTHING.  Thankfully I had packed our bags as a precaution that morning. 

We spent all day Thursday at the doctor’s office and within an hour of our arrival home that night his fever spiked to 104.1.  Again.  Bert put the bags back in the car while I paged the doctor.  Believe it or not they didn’t admit him, although walked us through a complex flow chart of the conditions he had to meet within the next 4 hours in order to stay home.  As usual, Ethan out-performed our expectations and met all conditions within half the time.  We slept in our own beds. 

We spent 10 hours in the doctor’s office Friday getting antibiotics, growth factor, and a platelet transfusion.  At 5:30 when we were packing up to go home, Ethan broke out in hives from head to toe.  We were teetering on the edge, but luckily still had those bags in our trunk.  It took us until 7:00, but the hives finally started to let up and we narrowly averted another admission.  I had to wake him up all night to give him medication for the hives, but it was like a treat to me because we were still sleeping in our own beds. 

He did extremely well all weekend and was thrilled by a visit from Fireman Kevin Saturday night.  Even Kyra was thrilled with Fireman Kevin and she’s very finicky about the company she keeps.  On Sunday, we put in a brief appearance at the Pediatric Oncology picnic and the kids both had a good time.  Ethan ate a lot and Kyra chased birds. 

This morning, we went in and spent another long day getting a blood transfusion.  Ethan’s counts are now higher, but not high enough to discontinue the Neupogen shots.  We have tomorrow off and will return on Wednesday – hopefully just for counts.  I finally let down my guard tonight and unpacked both of our bags.  I guess in the end Murphy’s Law did work for us but not quite as seamlessly as I had hoped.

Bert and I are meeting with Dr. Magram Wednesday for our follow-up discussion of the options and risks of a surgical biopsy.  We’ve ruled out a 2^nd full-blown craniotomy but are now debating between a stereotactic biopsy and forgoing the surgery altogether on the presumption that the enhancement is likely scar tissue.  It will be a very difficult decision for us. We’re hoping for a sudden onslaught of parental wisdom.