Feeling Good.... PLAYTIME!!!

Posted by Jennifer

Austin had a good day for the most part. Lastnight was a bit rough as there were some issues with one of his IV lines going into his port. Once they fixed that, Austin slept pretty well. He had the first round of MIBG scans today, he will have more tomorrow. He enjoyed playing with everyone visiting today and his color is great. His hemoglobin is 16, the highest ever so he had rosy red cheeks for once!! Overall, Dr. Patel said he is handling the treatment well. He will most likely have the second cycle of chemo on an outpatient basis as long as he continues to tolerate the chemo treatment well.

Thanks,
Jennifer (on behalf of Elizabeth)

Game Plan...

Posted by Jennifer

Austin finished his first round of chemo yesterday. They gave him a blood transfusion today because his blood counts dropped and his second round of chemo is now infusing as I type. Austin is doing well. He was very tired yesterday, we think mainly due to all the activity and not eating for almost 2 days. He had fasted for his scans, and by the time he was admitted and settled, the last thing he wanted was food. He got up and walked around a bit today, and enjoyed playing at the window. He also ate Chick-Fil-A for lunch and has been drinking a lot of milk.

Dr. Patel and Dr. Grimmley have laid out what they hope will be the treatment plan we follow this time around. Dr. Patel has started the first of the chemo rounds, he thinks we will do 3 cycles depending on the response. Austin is getting Cisplatin and VP-16 (Etoposide) back to back for 5 days. He had his bone scan yesterday and Patsy (Dr. Patel's NP) told us tonight that the scan looks good, the only evidence of Neuroblastoma is in the right orbit (eye) which we already assumed. He has his MIBG scans this weekend. We did ask about the size of the "masses" and she said they didn't label the one behind his eye that is growing near his temple/skull but that the one in his chest is small. Those are good things to hear. Dr. Grimmley talked about the type of transplant we will attempt to do as long as Austin responds to the chemo treatment. He wants to do a non-family member cord blood stem cell transplant to basically replace his immune system with one that he hopes will fight off the Neuroblastoma since Austin's own stem cells did not. They took a swab sample yesterday so that they can type him and start looking for a matching donor. We won't proceed with the transplant until we see how he responds to the first rounds of chemo.

We are just taking it day by day and we are trying to stay optimistic. Dr. Patel says that there is an 80% response rate to this type of treatment in Neuroblastoma relapse patients, so we are going off of that. Right now, we don't know how long Austin will be in the hospital... we will keep everyone updated.

Please continue to keep Austin in your prayers.

Thanks,
Jennifer (on behalf of Elizabeth)

Here we go again!!!!!

 


POSTED By Alan:
There are no words to describe the feelings that we all felt when Dr. Patel entered the room with the news. Dr. Patel is very emotionally involved with this case as if Austin was one of his own children so you could tell what the result was before he even said a word. Even then hearing Dr. Patel's soft spoken first words of "its back" brought out more emotions.

There seems to be a mass behind his right eye and the mystery “bulge” seems to also be the cancer. The original locations of the cancer were still clear and the new masses are not affecting any major organs. Dr. Patel plans to start therapy tomorrow which he mentioned two rounds of chemo, which I believe was part of the chemo treatment the first time. Another but possibly different transplant was mentioned but he didn’t go into much detail. Dr. Patel did mention the planned therapy has an 80% success rate to return to remission for relapsed neuroblastoma patients.

Waiting............

Hey Everyone,

We are still here at Methodist waiting. They had trouble with getting insurance authorization so the had to "admit" him. As we speak I am typing from Jennifer's computer in the waiting room on the 2nd floor of the hospital. They are doing a MRI and CT. It is taking a long time because of how much they have to do. He is in good hands down there. The nurse who is with him freaked out when they saw his name on the list. She is the one that called Patel's office and asked if they can go ahead and admit him to pass through the red tape. Poor little guy has to be hungry and thirsty by now. They gave him some meds to relax before we went into the CT scan and he was a happy drunk! He was laughing and smiling all the way down the hall. I am not sure if we have to spend the night. I don't think so unless we need to move forward. So in a way being here isn't so bad. We assume Patel will come talk to us in Austin's room and then if need be we stay or get discharged. At least we are already here if we need to be. Well I guess I better go. I haven't gotten a call but hoping it is soon. I will post or Alan will post what we find. Thanks for everyone prayers and thoughts. I will update soon.

Just when you think you can live a normal life....

I never thought I would have to write a post like this. Exactly. Where do I begin. This is going to be hard for me to write. Here goes. Sunday I noticed Austin's eyes didn't look right, they looked bulged or bug eyes (pushed out). Last night we saw swelling on his right side of his head near the temple. It is soft to the touch. We called Dr. Patel's exchange. Patsy was on call. She said maybe something bit him and do give him a high dose of benadryl and in six hours if it is not down do another dose. If it still was not down to call her. Well it didn't go down. So I called today. We had a 2:30 appointment to see them. Patel says it doesn't look good. He doesn't like the way it looks nor the way it feels. He says he is very worried. VERY WORRIED. If he is very worried can you imagine what I am? I hardly slept last night. Those same feelings of when he was diagnosed and I knew something was wrong came back to me. Oh what a nightmare! He threw in the pot that it could be his port. It is all on the same side. But his body language is telling me otherwise. Austin has fooled us in the past with his fevers so lets hope he is fooling us now!!! Patel is already thinking about the game plan and treatment if we need to go that route and we will jump on it right away. As soon as we know. Scans have been moved up to tomorrow. We have to be at the hospital at 1:00P.M. Well it is time for some prayers. I know we haven't stopped praying put we need to bring in the big guns!

All in all Austin looks good other then his bulged eyes and his bump on the side of his head. Patel said his counts look fairly decent. He is eating and drinking and dancing. He just hasn't been sleeping very well. But neither have I.

I balled my eyes out to Patel telling him I can't lose Austin (which I am sure he gets a lot) He said the fight is NOT over yet. We will keep on fighting. Then as we left he told Austin he loved him. I won't forget the fear in his eyes as I left his office today. He asked me if I have had FEELINGS and I told him YES!!!

PRAY: pray tonight that this nightmare is only Austin fooling us. Pray for the strength of Dr. Patel to help us fight if we need to. Pray that Christi Thomas is up there guiding us to the cure!!! Pray that they get a cell line (FU NB 2006) from Christi Thomas that could help find us a cure!!

Elizabeth

Dinner at Chili's

Here is a picture video of evening at Chili's!!!

Edit video online at onetruemedia.com

I Can Only Imagine........

Here are pictures from the balloon release today. Thanks for everyone's support. It ment a lot to us.

Edit video online at onetruemedia.com

I didn't want to blog last night about Austin's Friday appointment becaues I have had a lot of it on my mind and didn't want to worry anyone. Nothing bad has happened. We were just told we will be going ahead with more scans rather then waiting until November. We are waiting on insurance approval and then we will have them scheduled. With Christi's death and the fear of the unknown, it has been heavy on my heart and everytime I go to write I simple just sit here and ball. Today having the balloon release helped me feel better. That I am not alone. We are all here to fight. I will never give up a fight. With no cure all I can ask is once again for the wonderful prayers and most of all HOPE. I pray to Christ up above to watch over sweet Austin and to make him brave and a strong fighter like her. I want to thank everyone for standing by us and showing us we are all in this together.

Thank you Austin Akin Team!!!

Elizabeth

Come join us for a balloon release in honor of Christi!

My friend Jennifer and I are putting together a local balloon release for this saturday. Here is the copy of the email Jennifer has sent out to get publicity on the event and we hope that everyone can join us!

To whom it may concern:

First of all, we are trying to contact you all to help
us spread the word about a local event we are getting
together. We are the Austin Akin Team and our little
boy, Austin Akin, who resides in northwest San Antonio
is fighting a battle against Neuroblastoma, a
dangerous and life threatening childhood cancer. We
are planning a local balloon release to honor the
following:

1. September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
2. Christi Thomas, a 9 year old girl who just lost her
battle to Neuroblastoma this week and they have asked
everyone following her story to release balloons at
10am on Saturday to coincide with the release at her
funeral mass in Ohio.
3. To help raise awareness about this nasty beast
that claims the life of many innocent children.

The event details:

When: Saturday, September 23 at 10am
Where: MacArthur Park -- San Antonio, TX
What: Pink and White Balloon release (some balloons
will be provided at the park, please bring extra if
possible, the more the merrier)

Please let us know if you might be able to help us
spread the word. You can visit the following websites
for more information on Austin Akin and/or Christi
Thomas:

www.austinakin.com
www.christithomas.com


Kind regards,
Jennifer on behalf of the Austin Akin Team

If your are unable to attend the event we ask if you could kindly release pink and white balloons from your home.

If you have any questions you can email me at elizabeth_akin@hotmail.com

Elizabeth

Austin's Fight Picture Video

Edit video online at onetruemedia.com

Yeah I know I said I would post Sunday and I didn't. Sorry. Friday's visit with Patel was fine. His counts looked good and he gave Austin a bunch of medicine to take to get rid of his runny nose. Thank God!!! Patel let me know that he has now another patient with Neuroblastoma. A 21 month old. Please pray for this family as they are at the beginning of their fight as we were on October 4th. As I asked Patel for the okay for Austin to go on a weekend trip, of course he said "by all means", he and I discussed the trying to get away from it all but really there is never getting away from it. He described it like a 800 pound gorilla in front of you. There is no moving it. There are days where I forget Austin has cancer and others I cry in fear of losing him. Watching our NB friend Christy willow away puts the fear of one day me in her mother's shoes.

We went back to Patel's today for blood counts and to check up on his runny nose. Runny nose is just about gone. Counts are good. The NSE test came back. When he was diagnosed it was 350, today it is 43 and normal is 12. His may never get normal patel said. It may be up due to infection at the time of blood draw. He told us basically you watch for a pattern. If you see it to start to double or triple you know something is going on and you start running test. Our fear is "the bulge". It was brought up again today. I worry that as soon as Austin is off of Accutane, "the bulge" will be something. He told me at that point they would biopsy it. But for now everything is "stable". We discussed his irritability. Patel feels too a lot is from the Accutane.

Austin's next set of scans will be in November. This will include the MIBG scan that will detect the neuroblastoma. He talked about doing bone marrow biopsy as well. He told us with these children you can never let your guard down, never. You have to watch everything.

Austin is doing well. He is not as cranky now that we are on our off two weeks of Accutane. He is starting to get around a lot better. He seems to be steady on his feet now. He has started trying to feed himself with a spoon. (what a mess though).

We go back to Patel's on Friday for blood counts. Well I better go to bed. I will post on Friday.

Elizabeth

It's A Girl!!!

No we are not having another baby. But we do have a new addition to the family. She is a sweet little dog. We have named her Abby. We got her through an organization that rescues dogs from the pound. We are so glad to have her join our family. Austin is in love with her. Gizmo is being the big brother to her. The cats just don't care. So now we can call us "7th Heaven" two parents, two dogs, two cats and one wonderful toddler!

Austin seems to be feeling much better now that he has been on his antibiotics for 48 hours. He took one long nap today which seems to be working for him. He still fights me when he has to have his diaper changed and when it is time to take medicine. I have been told by our friends with children his age that their kids are doing it too. Thank God it just isn't Austin. We were out talking to our neighbor tonight and he made the comment "six more months and the terrible two's will be here", I said," you haven't heard him screaming? The terrible twos came six months early." We laughed.

We are going on a road trip this weekend. Jason "the biker" is going to do a few rides in Fort Davis, Texas and Austin and I are going along for the ride. (in the car that is) Austin and I just plan to hang out at the hotel. Thought it would be nice to just get away. I wasn't sure if Austin and I were going to get to go since he hasn't been feeling well. Also I was worried about leaving Sugar. (I still am worried) but he is doing fine. Still has his head tilt, but his eyes are moving back an forth. He goes back for his recheck Monday. Mom is going to come over everyday to check on him and feed him and Tigger. So he should be fine. Probably will be nice and relaxing for him not to have to hear Austin scream.

We go to Patel's tomorrow for ear check and blood counts. Hopefully all will look well. I probably won't have time to post tomorrow so I will try and post Sunday night. Have a great weekend. Pray that Sugar will be fine without us this weekend.

Elizabeth

When it rains it pours.....

A year ago were dealing with a sick Austin not knowing what was going on with him. Well a year later it feels the same. Austin and I have been battling a couple sleepless nights and a lot of crying and throwing himself on the floor. I can't tell if he is in pain or the start of terrible twos. He just hasn't been his normal self.

We went to Patel's office today and Patsy could see that Austin wasn't his normal self either. His counts were okay (a little lower then Fridays). NSE didn't come back because the lab could not run it (another wait for that test). This is twice the lab could not run his test so this time they sent it over to the hospital and it should come back faster, but yes we have to wait. She looked in Austin's right ear and said it looked good. She looked in Austin's left ear and said no this one looks bad. Worse then the right did. Well that explains whey hasn't been feeling well. His ear has been hurting. No fever. No pulling at it. Just really bugged him when she looked in it. She also said that his chest sounded congested and he still has his runny nose. That worried her. So she sent us over to the hospital to get a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia and would call in a prescription for his ear infection.

Patsy called this evening to say the chest x-ray looked clear. So he is on Septra twice a day for 14 days. Lets pray this gets rid of his runny nose too. He has had it for over a month! His pour little mouth is very dried and cracked from the accutane. I know it hurts him. I put medicine on it and he licks it off. Hopefully maybe tomorrow Austin will start to feel better. Patsy had given us a prescription for ear drops for pain last time so I started using them again. Austin hates them but they seem to work.

We are working to get Austin's story out there along with other Neuroblastoma stories and so far Austin is now listed another website. Here is the link if you want to take a look. His picture is listed on the slideshow and he is name is on the "kids" page too.



We go back Friday for recheck again.

Elizabeth

How do you live a normal life???......

Hey all,

That is the question I keep asking myself. When does the worrying ever stop? Never. Sorry I haven't updated sooner. A lot has been on my mind. I hadn't figured out how to let it out yet. Yesterday we went to Austin's one month radiation follow up appointment. As I sat there talking to mom about how I wondered if that appointment was going to be a waste of our time, (because the very first appointment we had with them they didn't have all their ducks in a row)little did I know what I would learn. Dr. Eng who is head of radiation there at CTRC, discussed with us Austin's CT scan from August 23, 2006. The area that they radiated, there was no comments which is a good thing. The CT scan showed a "bulge" in his chest area. This was all news to us. Dr. Eng felt it may not be anything. He even said it may be a part of his growth. I told him Dr. Patel has not even said a word about it. Dr. Eng said from his stand point that he has only read the report and has not seen the actual CT scan. He tells us, when you find something like that you have to look at the patient for symptoms. Austin has no symptoms at this time. He feels he will be fine. They will just watch it. He said he would be glad to view the CT scan to look into it more. Both Dr. Eng and Dr. Jones did a physical exam on Austin. Dr. Eng felt that the node behind Austin's right ear was a little large. Dr. Jones reminded him he was being treated for and ear infection. So he said that was the reason why then.
I was stunned at all of this. Lost for words. Now it all makes sense to me why Patel has looked blank with Austin's counts dropping. All I could think of was is this nasty beast back? But I had to keep telling myself that Patel has told me all the test have come back normal. It was a hard night for me but I kept my mind off of it by studying for my test.

Today we went to Patel. He wasn't there but Patsy took our questions and was going to find answers for us when Patel returned in the afternoon. She had never heard the word "bulge" used as a medical term. She said his ears looked good but their was still fluid in them but that is normal when you have a runny nose. Which he still does. She wants to see him back Tuesday to check his ears again. She said they have seen a lot of ear infection cases do fine but as soon as the antibiotics stop they are back again. She wants to catch it before it gets out of hand.

His counts were up!! That was the best thing today. His white blood count shot up and platelets too. Patsy made a comment that the white blood counts were probably up because he was fighting an infection. So that means he has an immune system doing its job. Yeah!!!!

Patsy called this evening after she looked at the CT scan with Dr. Patel. Sure enough he said yes that there is a "bulge" but his NSE test has come back normal. NSE is Neuron-specific Enolase test. Patients with neuroblastomas may have high levels of NSE. Serum NSE can be used to monitor recurrence or progression of tumor in these cancer patients. Dr. Patel runs this test once a month. He has run it last Wednesday and we are waiting for the results for this month. This will tell us more if the "bulge" is anything. Patel feels that the disease is "stable". So he doesn't act to worried. Probably why he didn't tell us in the first place, because now I am a mess worrying about it all. Patsy said that the test should be back early next week. So only time will tell. Patsy reminded me that Austin has been through a lot of treatment so the "bulge" could simply be scar tissue. It is not necessarily cancer. Austin will have his scans done again in November. He will have another CT Scan and a MIBG scan done. This is a nuclear scan test that uses a radioactive material (radioisotope) that is injected into a vein. A scanner then detects the radiation in order to locate or confirm pheochromocytoma (an adrenal gland tumor). Austin had this done at the beginning for his transplant stay. The MIBG is very helpful with Neuroblastoma.

Austin is doing wonderful. He loves to play and is a very happy,sweet little boy. I am enjoying watching him grow. As he is not my little baby anymore. He is very independent now. It is so hard to believe next month he will be a one and a half years old!!!!

Please pray that this "bulge" is nothing and will continue to be nothing. We can only hope that we can keep this nasty beast away.

Have a good night!

Elizabeth

Prayers for Christi.....

Hey all,

We need prayers for our neuroblastoma friend Christi. She is going through some horrible pain and treatment. I have included a link to her webiste and blog. Austin is listed under her links as well.

We are praying for you Christi!!!

Pictures......

Remember this picture of Austin's hair back in June 2006??




Look at it as of today! Isn't it great!!! Amazing!!!!!


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Welcome Home Sugar

Hey all,

Yes Sugar is HOME!!! He is very happy to be home. First thing he did was eat. What a great sign of healing. He still can not walk around much. We have a good size bathroom where I have him with his own food, water and litter box. I made him a little bed in my closet but he still prefers the cage. Dr. Nichols says he should come out of this well. He is not in any pain. And only time will tell. He seems very happy. Dr. Nichols agreed. He goes back for recheck on Monday. Thanks for everyones prayers!!! Sugar says "MEOW"

Austin is doing well. He has been driving Gizmo crazy. But they have fun running all over the house. He is taking him medicne very well. He is very dry but we just keep lotion on him all day. He too is happy that Sugar is home. He waived at him. So cute.

The pictures of Sugar were taking as soon as I got him settled in his room. In one you can see his tilt. He tilts to the left. Dr. Nichols says we may find him sleeping like that because that is what is comfortable.
Elizabeth

Mask or no mask? That is the question......

Hey guys,

We went to Dr. Patel's this morning. Sorry for the late update. Dr. Patel wasn't there but left notes in Austin's chart on what to look for in his counts. His counts were up a bit. Better then they were on Friday. Patsy (Patel's nurse ) said that Austin's right ear looked a little pink. She said in a normal pediatric appointment they would not treat it as an ear infection but due to Austin's situation and his counts being low she was going to go ahead and treat it. So she put him on antibiotics and gave us some ear drops for the pain. She also noticed that his throat was a little red. Could be due to all the drainage from that stinky runny nose. We go back Friday for them to check his ears again and blood counts again. She said Austin doesn't have to be isolated but be careful where he goes and no sick people around him. We tried having him wear his mask (which he use to wear when he was younger) but he will not have it on at all!!! So we are going to still stay low for the rest of the week. Where Austin only gets out a little.

Well we got an update on Sugar. He seems to have had a good day on Sunday but not on Monday but a good morning today. They have gotten him to take seven steps before falling over. The plan is for him to come home but he will have to be ISOLATED to one room. Where have we heard that word before???? He will need to be by himself for a while to get over this. The vet feels that he may come back to 100% or close to it. So we are very happy and hope he can come home. Maybe that will help with his recovery. Okay, so now is my calling a vet tech??? Just kidding!!! I have been doing a lot of research on his disease and it seems to have something to do with the weather. Happens a lot in the summer!! Nasty heat!!! Gizmo goes to the vet (the same one Sugar is at) tomorrow for his check up. His appointment was already planned! LOL. So hopefully I will be taking him to get shots and brining both of them home.

Elizabeth

Austin's First Hair cut

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Here are some pictures of Uncle Alan giving Austin his first hair cut. Really a hair trim!!! There are also some pictures of Austin playing in his Bubble Gum Playland that Uncle Alan and Aunt Jenn got him to keep him entertained in hope for only a few more days of isolation. We still do not have any more updates on sugar so I will post later as soon as we get an update.

Isolation is getting old!!!!

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Hey everyone,

We are getting bored here at home. Austin has been playing all day with Gizmo. He seems to be doing fine. Still has a runny nose if he doesn't take the benadryl. He only took one one and half hour nap today so he went to bed at 7:30 tonight.

We got an update on Sugar. Dr. Nichols said he still is the same. Still walking like a drunken sailor. But he did eat some this morning. He says he has that in favor for him. Still no blood work back yet. He said he will call and update us tomorrow.

I have put together a slide show of some old pictures I dug up of Sugar. I have been going back to memory lane when he was growing up. Thought you might enjoy looking at them.

Our friend Christi is still not doing well. We ask everyone to pray for her pain management.

Well I will post tomorrow once we hear anymore on sugar.

Good night,

Elizabeth

Happy 17 months Austin!!!

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Hey guys,

Yes can you believe it Austin is 17 months today. Wow how time flies. Still no word on our cat Sugar. But I take that as a good thing. Hopefully he is doing well. We love your Sugar and we sure do miss you. Austin took a long afternoon nap. He slept for 2 hours and 45 minutes. That is long for Austin. Then he woke up and ate a good lunch. Bananas and chicken nuggets. His favorite. He has been running all over the house and doesn't know what to do with himself. We are not use to being isolated anymore. He wants to play outside so bad and I would let him if it wasn't so darn hot. We have our other cat in the house right now so she doesn't freak out that Sugar is not here and Austin loves to chase her all over the house. Austin went to bed very well. He now knows the word "nite nite" he use to run to Jason to help him from the mean mommy putting him to bed but now he hugs him good night. I laid him down in his bed tonight and he rolled over and went to sleep. No cries at all. Yeah Austin, you have come along way. oh yeah, his dry spots are back on his face from the Accutane. But I take it as it is working.

Picture Time!!!!

The Picture on the blog is Austin in Gizmo's dog bed. I have shown you picture of Gizmo on Austin's sofa and so when Gizmo gets on Austin's sofa then Austin takes over Gizmo's bed!

The slide show are some pictures of Austin tonight in the bath tub. As you can see his other mother watching him. Gizmo comes in the bathroom every night we take a bath to watch.

Picture of Austin rolling his eyes......

Yes there is a story behind this.... Austin's Uncle Alan has taught him to roll his eyes. We were in Dr. Patel's office Friday and Austin rolled his eyes during Dr. Patel's exam. I know Patel was thinking something is wrong! He is having a seizure! Haha. I had to explain to him that my lovely brother taught him this. He loves to copy Uncle Alan. Patel never thought that you could teach a child to roll their eyes. He found humor in it even though we were worried about his counts and runny nose. Patel said "this brother of yours, I sure do like him!!!!" haha

Sweet Sugar

Hey all,

Well it had been a crazy morning. Austin is doing well. No fever, still a little cranky and runny nose is not too bad. Our worries at the moment is are sweet cat Sugar. We had to take him to the vet this morning and leave him for the long weekend. I went outside to the Cat Knnel and he came out of his tent walking like a drunken sailor. His eyes were going back and forth horizontally non stop. We took him to our vet and he fees it is something neurological. HMMMMM.Neurologial....Neuroblastoma..... Poor kitty. They really don't know what is wrong with him yet. They mentioned possible stroke. They are putting him on a high dose of steroids and doing some blood work and will call us with any news. So when we find out we will let you know. Hopefully we can say a few prayers that God is with him through this rough time. He is our first baby. We will update later when we hear something.

Elizabeth

Down for the "Counts"

Hey everyone,

We just got back from Dr. Patel's office. As I was signing Austin in Patel was standing in the business office and looked at Austin strangely. I knew from right there things were not going to be good. He has that sense that I think no one else has that he can read him before even looking at his counts. He asked me how Austin was doing and I told him fine other then we can get his runny nose to stop. He still had the look on his face like something is not good. My stomach was turning. They took his blood for counts and sure enough his counts took a hit. They are DOWN. Almost at the point of pure isolation. Everything took a hit, white cells, red cells and platelets. All other test he performed last week are normal. So we are hoping maybe his runny nose is a viral infection. The office is closed Monday for labor day so we will go back Tuesday for counts again. So we need lots of prayers for this weekend. Prayer warriors start your engines and lets start the BIG prayers. Patel wants him away from the public and so do I. We are making him homebound. He can have visitors who have not been sick or has not been around anyone who has been sick. We will lay low this weekend and take it easy. Patel has taking him off his claritin, even though he doesn't think that is dropping his counts. He can only have benadryl and his accutane, no other drugs. He seems to be fine. He was quite some this morning. All I can think of is maybe he is coming down with something or maybe he is right he has had a small viral infection and is why he has a runny nose. It is so hard to figure out. He is also teething, so that can be why he has a runny nose. All so hard to figure out. Austin will be on major watch. Any signs of something changing in him we are to call Patel immediately.

Our Neuroblastoma friend Christi still needs our prayers for her pain management and for her families strength to be there for her.