February 2022 -

Logan, An Infection Delay

Logan in his Jurassic Park cozy coupe. (Replaces a cardboard box in which he was being pushed.)

Logan was discharged from the hospital after Round 4 chemo on Feb 2, ending 121 nights in the hospital at that point. Tomorrow, Wednesday March 2 will be 4 weeks since that discharge. The wait between other rounds of chemo was about 4 or 5 days, but Logan’s blood work has not shown he is ready for Round 5.

What’s happenin’ with ANC?

Logan’s Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) needs to be ~1,000 to allow Round 5 chemo to commence. Recall that neutrophils are a type of white blood cell that fights infection. During Logan’s time out of the hospital his ANC climbed to ~300. Then dropped back to 100. An ANC drop is an indicator that he had an infection and Logan’s neutrophils were fighting the infection as it should. Other infection indications were a sore in his mouth and a rash on his body. As reference a “healthy” person has an ANC of 2,500 to 6,000. For patients like Logan, a “safe” ANC is between 500 and 1,500. Given Logan’s low and unsafe level, those who interact with him have quarantined. And despite the vigilance, an infection got to him. Thankfully his body has appropriately responded.

Remission, still!

Last week Logan underwent another bone marrow biopsy to check for cancer. The GREAT news is that Logan remains in remission. Thank you, Lord! Logan was also tested for the infection type that his ANC was fighting, but that was inconclusive. The suspected hand-foot-mouth disease was eliminated as a cause, so we don’t exactly know what Logan’s body was/is fighting. Out of an abundance of caution, all his toys were removed and cleaned and sanitized. No ball pit in Aunt Casey and Uncle Chris’ house anymore. But in the pic above you can see that a new cozy coupe arrived. That’s so the adults in the house don’t have to push him around in a cardboard box, avoiding some sore backs.

A Battery Scare

Logan’s recovery from all that debilitating chemo is so apparent with the extended time out of the hospital. He is a normal 15-month-old with the exception of the feeding tube in his nose. Logan wanders around, babbling, and getting into everything. Including batteries. A couple of weeks ago they had a scare in which they thought he had swallowed a small battery. Soooo, what that meant was a trip to get a x-ray to make sure he had not swallowed one. Just what Amanda and AJ needed, right? Good news is that all is well -except for parental nerves. Regular toddler behavior, methinks.

Big John and Mimi

Big John and Mimi Donna have been quarantining this past week or so, looking to start helping Amanda and AJ as soon as tomorrow. A blood test is scheduled for Logan tomorrow to check ANC levels and we might see them after that test. Or maybe, just maybe, Logan’s ANC has recovered enough for readmission, though we are kind of pessimistic about that. What Donna and I are certainly looking forward to is seeing Logan in person and playing with him – wherever – after not doing so for the past month.

Our visits have been via FaceTime, but we did see Logan and Amanda and AJ on Saturday through the window of Chris and Casey’s home. Mimi had made some of her wonderful sourdough breads, one a cinnamon-raisin-blueberry and the other kalamata olive. So, so good. More sourdough bread is in process today in case we see them all tomorrow.

I have written this before, but your thoughts and prayers and kind words of support are needed, appreciated and helping. Thank you so much.

Logan, Round 5… soon

Logan and Aunt Casey, photo courtesy of Casey’s Facebook page

Blood Counts Drive Treatment

Since leaving the hospital, Logan has had several blood tests. These tests measure blood counts to determine whether his body has recovered enough to start round 5 of chemotherapy. It has not. Logan’s last blood test on Monday showed again that his absolute neutrophil count (ANC) was not high enough. Neutrophils are a type of white blood cells which kill bacteria. And the ANC is an estimate of the body’s ability to fight bacterial infections. So, we wait.

Logan’s little body has been battered by 4 rounds of chemotherapy to kill leukemia cells. The good news is that the chemotherapy has worked. Logan has been in remission since after the first round. But the leukemia treatment protocol advises 5 chemo rounds. Some of the chemicals are the same each round. Some are different and seek out and attack the leukemia in different ways and in different areas of the body – think in the brain, for example. The 5-round chemo protocol has been learned through both research and through the treatment of all the leukemia patients that have come before Logan.

Next Admission

Of course, the chemotherapy kills much more than that leukemia cells. It kills normal blood cells, blood cells like ANC which fight infection. Each round of chemo further harms Logan’s body and makes his successive recovery more difficult and take longer. Hence the wait for round 5 to begin. Right now Logan has an appointment for Monday, February 21 to be admitted for the last round of chemo to begin.

With each day of recovery away from the hospital Logan gets stronger and happier, and that makes us happy. The joyful picture above is from Logan’s stay at his Aunt Casey’s and Uncle Chris’ home. Donna and I see strength and personality improve via FaceTime calls and Facebook posts. We miss Logan and Austin and Amanda, and are plotting our safe return to be with them. It will be when Logan is in the hospital during round 5. And while we do not look forward to seeing the treatment’s impact on Logan, we long to hold him.

Logan – Round 4 complete

Morning FaceTime from Casey & Chris’ with Logan, AJ, and Big John

Logan and Amanda and AJ were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday evening this past week. Logan’s blood count recovery came quickly, about 7 days sooner than expected. And so Aunt Casey and Uncle Chris are comfortably hosting them in their home. I know that Amanda and AJ and Logan are all grateful to be gone from the hospital for a while.

Discharge Day

Day of discharge was a frustrating day of waiting. Logan’s blood counts began stabilizing and rising last weekend, so it was just a matter of time. His machine-read counts early on Wednesday morning were high enough for the discharge. But then the human-read counts were much lower throwing discharge into question. So the doctor asked to re-draw blood for another count, and wanted to wait until 4pm to allow Logan’s body a bit more time to recover. Complicating all this was a winter storm looming for that evening. Freezing rain, sleet and snow were forecast, sure to make driving on Thursday or Friday impossible. And that turned out to be true. No discharge on Wednesday would have meant a Saturday discharge as the roads were dangerous on Thursday and Friday.

Leaving

Around 6pm on Wednesday the new blood counts confirmed discharge. So began the mad scramble to beat the freezing rain. AJ had already packed everything – which meant that there was precious little to do in the hospital all day except to wait. On the discharge greenlight, grandparents Kim and Mike headed to the hospital to help retrieve them and their belongings. Amanda drove one car with Kim in the back seat accompanying Logan so he did not remove his feeding tube. AJ drove their other car which was packed. And Mike retrieved the large Yeti cooler which has been a constant during the hospital stay (Thank you to Katy and Steve for the loan!)

Recent pictures and video from Facebook have shown a happy and quite active Logan playing at his Aunt and Uncle’s home. So, so great to see. The pic on this post is from this morning’s FaceTime call. Re-admission is next week Wednesday for the home stretch of chemo, Round 5. And they are all ready for the chemo treatments to be completed.

Breaking Quarantine

With this discharge, Donna and I broke our quarantine to allow us to visit with the rest of the family and with friends. I have previously written about how difficult this is. We went into quarantine on December 28, 5 weeks ago. We struggle with the letting go of both visiting with Logan and helping Amanda and AJ. And at the same time we yearn to be with others including our grandson Griffin. There is no good solution to this. This past week, Donna said, “I hate this. It’s like we have to choose between our grandsons.” Fact is, we are choosing, each time. Though it might be called balancing, it feels like failure.

And while it seems that Donna and I are in the middle of Logan’s leukemia treatment, even we as grandparents are on the edge. In the very center of it, every day, are Amanda and AJ. Focused on Logan and his care and keeping him safe, they are doing a wonderful job. And what they do is unseen by most. I can tell you that their teamwork, patience and commitment are extraordinary. Please continue to pray for this little family as they are about to start the last round of this chemotherapy protocol.