AJ is doing fantastic. He had his monthly check-up at Children’s Hospital today, and everything looked good. His blood counts are all within normal ranges, and as a result Dr. Pollard decided to increase the dosage on one of his medications. They like to keep his ANC below 2000 during maintenance if possible, and it was 3544 today. So we’ll go back in 2 weeks for a blood draw to see how he handles the increase. In addition to IV chemo, AJ also had a “back poke” today under anesthesia where a sample of spinal fluid was taken and a dose of spinal chemo was given. He gets these every 3 months.
His hair has grown back quite a bit (a little straighter than before), and he seems to be on the cusp of a growth spurt. He grew 2 cm in the last month, which is more than we’ve seen in the past. During the 6 months of intense chemo, his growth slowed and we were told that once he entered the maintenance phase his body would make up for it. He’s just a hair shy of 43 inches tall now, which is pretty close to average for his age.
AJ has adjusted really well to being back in school, and aside from the respiratory virus in early February, he has been lucky and has not picked up any bugs. He’s making a lot of friends in his pre-K class, really enjoys learning about science and continues to love drawing and writing letters and words. We’re in the process of deciding which kindergarten to enroll him in this fall. We were thinking we’d keep him at his current school, which we are very happy with, for another year. However, since his school only goes though kindergarten, we’d have to find another school in a year, so in some ways we’d be delaying the inevitable. In the meantime, he got into Puesta del Sol which is a Spanish immersion program here in Bellevue. We’re weighing the options and will need to make a decision by next week. Hard to believe he’ll be in kindergarten so soon!
We feel so fortunate that things are going well, and we continue to ask for positive thoughts and prayers for AJ’s continued good health. Both he and Camille have been enjoying the spring weather, and they are getting excited because we are heading to Disneyland next month. It will be the first time we’ve taken the kids on an airplane since AJ’s diagnosis. We’ll be sure to post a few pictures once we’re back.
On a final note, we wanted to call out that some of Brian’s co-workers participated in “The Big Climb” last weekend in honor of AJ. In this event, participants climb up 70 floors of the Columbia Tower to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma society. AJ enjoyed meeting the group before their climb. Go Team Adrian!
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