April 12 - Blood Work

April 12 - Blood Work

Happy Thursday! Nope I didn't miss a blog post, we missed a blood work. Due to Levi sleeping in crazy late on Monday and me having a mandatory Monday morning meeting at work we ended up missing Monday and since his counts have been over 200 we determined that we didn't need to come in on Tuesday to make up for it. So here we are on Thursday! When I told Levi on Monday that we were not going to blood work he had a full on melt down. You would think I had just told the kid that he no longer got to go to Disney World. It was awful. Screaming, Crying real tears, so upset and hurt. It was like I broke his heart that we weren't going to blood work. I felt bad!! Only 3 year old I know that is upset that he isn't going to get stuck with a needle. :(

We got to the lab and there was a short wait. One person in the lab and one person waiting to do a drop off so we had just enough time to take a few pictures and start up a game before it was time for Levi to head in. He was being silly with the pictures this morning!

Note: We have moved to our spring jacket!! It is finally nice out here in NH. 

 We headed in and Levi picked out his band-aid. It took him a few minutes to decide but he landed on Star Wars. Then he started playing on the tablet.

 The blood draw went smooth as always. P is really good to him. She was very worried about where we were on Monday and had made the assumption that we had headed to Lebanon. Thankfully we hadn't, but I felt bad that she had worried about him when all we had done was sleep in! I gave her some contact info so that she can contact me if she is worried about Levi. When the draw was done Levi was bleeding pretty bad. It randomly happens, but once in a while the little guy just won't stop bleeding. And to the best of my knowledge there is no correlation between how much he bleeds and what his counts are, so it's just one of those random things that happens.

After the draw was done. P had something new to show Levi. Child Life Services had ordered her a sticker container!! Levi was super excited about it.

 He was a little bummed that the Paw Patrol stickers don't have Rocky. He unrolled half the roll looking for him, not realizing that the stickers are a pattern. He settled on a Minnie and Daisy sticker and was pretty excited to put it right on his shirt!

 Then we were off to the treasure box. Levi was digging around when I saw a green bunny. I asked him if he had seen it and as soon as he did he gave him a big hug and was all about the green bunny.

 I had bribed Levi that morning with donut money if he got ready without any argument. Not only did he do all of his steps with no complaint he did it in under 19 minutes! (His timer is set at 27 minutes!) so he definitely earned that $1.25. We headed over to the donut lady and there was a long line. On Thursday mornings there is a doctor that brings his entire staff down and buys them coffee. I always try not to get stuck behind them because it can be quite a wait, but of course I had no choice today. Levi was good waiting in line. He introduced green bunny to the giraffe. Bunny was scared of the giraffe because he was so small and the giraffe was so big. Levi comforted the bunny and told him not to be scared and that it was ok. It was the cutest thing ever.

 Finally we made it to the glass case and Levi and bunny were looking at the donuts and hugging. It was adorable.

 Once it was our turn, Levi ordered his donut, gave a big hug to the Donut Lady, and paid for his donut. All while using his pleases and thank you's! He is such a sweetie.

Then we were off to school. Levi ate his whole donut on the way to school.

 Well he did share with bunny. Bunny is a hungry little guy and likes to eat with all of us!

Counts came in a little later. His count today was 182. Still a great number but a 50+ point drop in a week for really no reason. He doesn't have any random bruising and the little cold he had is now gone and has been gone, so not sure where the drop came from. Hopefully we will level out here and not continue to drop.

Next plan: Blood work again on Monday. :)

April 5 - Blood Work

April 5 - Blood Work

Good Morning! What a morning it's been! Levi has been much better today then yesterday, but man I am exhausted. And this cold that both Levi and I seem to have is wiping the energy out of both of us!

P was on top of things this morning and the blood draw went super quick and easy! I am so appreciative when that happens and so glad that she is good at what she does! Before I could barely even blink today we were off and running to the treasure box.

 He picked the rubiks cube (or magic cube it's called) and was super excited. I am sure at some point he will mess it up and be upset and I will be watching you tube videos on how to fix it, because I am awful at them!

 Since it's Thursday and overall we have had a good week we were off to the donut lady after P. He gave her a hug and handed over his money. I only had 2 1 dollar bills today so we talked about change and what that means and he was pretty excited to have 3 moneys back from it.

Then we were off to school with him eating his donut in the car. He ate the whole thing before we got off the highway, which is only about 10 minutes! He had told me he was hungry and clearly he wasn't kidding.

Counts took a little while to come in today, was around 10:30 when they finally made an appearance. But they were good at 236! I am very glad that this cold isn't taking him down at all!

Next steps: Have a great weekend!! And do blood work again on Monday!

April 2 - Blood Work

April 2 - Blood Work

Happy Monday!!! I hope you all had a great Easter! I know we did! This picture is second Easter Bunny basket and egg hunt at our house! It was a busy, but fun weekend. We calculated that Levi found, opened, and enjoyed 162 eggs between the 4 egg hunts we did this year!! It was a blast!

But we are all dragging this morning!! We are tired!! We got to the lab around 8 and Levi went right in. He set like this for almost 5 minutes. He just couldn't pick a band-aid.

 Finally I picked for him and he climbed up in the chair. P had the tablet all ready for him and he started playing wild kratts, the game was exactly where it had been last time we played. I am not sure how to get him past where he is, so I convinced him to change to something else. I think P would have tried to help him play and not done the blood draw, but I said something like "we gotta do this so we can get to school!" So he switched to something else. I swear that tablet is a blessing and a curse at the same time!

The draw itself went great as always! Then it was off to the treasure box and once again we couldn't decide what we wanted. He kept picking something and I would be like "awesome choice" and he would say "no, I want something else" finally I told him he had to pick and he picked one of the cars that Grammie had donated to the treasure box for the first time. Of course not the bus that I think is super cool, or any of the green cars that Grammie picked out specifically with him in mind, nope he picked the brown and copper colored race car!!

 Then we were off to the car so that we could head to school. Levi played with his car the whole drive to school so that was fun!

Counts came in at 9:40. He has a slight cold/runny nose/toddler thing going on so we weren't quite sure what counts would come back at, but they are still great at 223!! We are now over a month since the last infusion and still holding strong! That makes me so happy! :) Hopefully we can continue this trend and stay out for a little while.

Next Plan: Blood work again on Thursday!

March 29 - Blood Work

March 29 - Blood Work

Happy Thursday everyone!! Our's didn't start out on the greatest note with someone who really didn't want to get moving this morning! Barely got his astronaut to his space ship, and only did get it there because Mommy told him she was Angry and that gets him moving, and then Daddy basically put his shoes on for him!

But once we got to the hospital things turned around. I had to stop him from trying to climb into the fountain! He saw the money (which we have been working on what money is and what it means) and thought he could take some! We then had a talk about that wasn't ok.

 We got over to the lab and the Child Life Specialist was just coming out. She saw Levi's jacket (which has his name on it) and she said "Are you THE Levi?!?! The famous Levi?? P talks about you ALL the time!! I really have to come watch how this actually goes" and turned around to come and watch Levi's blood work.

He picked out his band-aid and started playing a game on the tablet. (We have now learned that P requested the tablet from CLS because of Levi and the other kids she has! So we are appreciative to them!) He was playing a Wild Kratts game and was having a blast. The draw went as smooth as ever! P really is so good to him. He wanted to keep playing after the draw was done, and I allowed it for a few minutes and then said it was time to go to the treasure box. Apparently I need to put the PBS Kids app on his tablet, as its loaded with great games!

He got over to the treasure box which was full of brand new things!! Sitting right on the top was a very cool Paw Patrol toy! One I am sure was placed strategically there for Levi (and didn't come from the dollar store) but Levi didn't want it. I think P was a little upset, but she got down on the floor with him to dig around. He ended up picking a green Sticky hand. Oh Joy! My favorite!! NOT! :) haha!!

 Then because it was Thursday and until this morning the week had gone very well, he was allowed to get his donut. Here he is showing off the donut case!

 He was very happy when it was his turn! He ordered his donut with proper manners and paid for it with both of his moneys! The Donut Lady couldn't give him a hug today as she wasn't feeling the greatest, but Levi was ok with that, and gave her a big wave! Then we were off to school!

 In the past few months Levi has gotten much neater at eating. But today was not a neat day!! We got to school and I just had to take this picture of his face!

 Then he was so proud to show me his hands too! When I was cleaning him up I asked if he had eaten any chocolate or just warn it all, and he said "I ate some!! By licking it!! HAHA!" and was laughing a ton. I love his little toddler laugh.

I got him cleaned up and he was in to school soon after.

Counts came in very early today! It was nice! His counts are 234! So another increase and a great number!!

Next Plan: Labs again on Monday!

March 26 - Blood Work

March 26 - Blood Work

We got to the lab this morning bright and early as it's the every other week where I have a 9am meeting that I have to be at and from the time I leave home, drive to blood work, do blood work, drive to preschool, drop off Levi, and then drive to work it's about 90 minutes. Levi was not impressed to be up early! He was doubly unimpressed when we got to the lab and P wasn't there!

He picked out his band-aid and got up in the chair, but was very very unhappy about it. Especially when there was no tablet only my phone to play on. This is the face of a very sad and tired little boy!

The draw went ok though definitely a little slower then P does it which threw Levi off a little. She cleaned his arm several times as she couldn't pick which vein she wanted to use, and he was unimpressed by that. Once she actually poked him she got the vein on the first try and got the blood right away, it was just the lead up process to the actual poke that took longer.

Finally we were off to the treasure box. Levi was unimpressed that the nurse pulled it out and opened it for him as that is part of what he likes to do. Then he couldn't make up his mind. He just kept going back and forth on different things. I finally had to tell him that he had to pick because we were headed to school.

He had his hand on a matchbox bus (which is the coolest thing ever and I so want him to pick it one day) and I thought he had decided, but at the last minute he put that back and picked the duck. In the end it was a good choice for him (not that he needs more stuffed animals) but because he has played with it and slept with it for days now!! (yes I am writing this blog post several days after Monday!haha... Life happens, I am not always on the ball!)

The duck has been named Quacky and watch out if you come to our house because he likes to tickle people!

We got to the car and Levi and Quacky finished Levi's TMNT cookie that had been a surprise in his breakfast cup! It was super cute and sweet!

Tonight Levi has gymnastics and Jay is picking him up, so when we got to school while Levi was getting out of his car seat I secretly stashed Quacky in the very bottom of his back pack. I told Jay later that he was there for Levi! And boy was Levi excited when Daddy picked him up and had Quacky!!

Counts took a little while to come in today, and I was just starting to get concerned that the different nurse hadn't done the paperwork right (yes in this day of computers they have to complete the paperwork every time we go, its not just saved in the computer. In fact his standing lab order just means that the lab paperwork is in a file cabinet drawer at the hospital!! Seems crazy) but then it came in. His counts are 228! Wow! A 27 point increase since Thursday! A great number!!! :)