Normalization of counts

Ibrahim's counts on Friday were within normal limits. His platelet count is 225,000 which is wonderful. His steroids will be decreased again and by next Friday, we will stop them entirely, which is a huge milestone. We get to skip our weekly Friday visits at St Jude and will go back to check counts in two weeks.
We've held off on Ibrahim's routine immunizations until he's off of steroids. But otherwise he's growing and gaining weight. He finally gets to take normal baths since his central line is out.

Thank you all again for all the prayers and thoughts, with out which we wouldn't have come this far.

The removal of the central line

Today is a big day for Ibrahim.. we had his central line removed so he'll be a lot less restricted. His platelet count is 142,000 which is great! We'll decrease his steroid dose again and continue our weekly counts. The other great thing is that his white count is coming up to normal again which means he is at less of a chance of picking up infections. So mashallah, we're well on our way to recovery!

Friday, February 6th

Yesterday, Ibrahim had his central line repaired by interventional radiology. They sutured the defect in his skin and hopefully the line can be kept for a couple of more weeks while his steroids are on board so that he doesn't need to be stuck for labs. Ibrahim's platelet count today is 91,000 which is essentially stable. We will proceed to reduce his dose of steroids one more time (decrease his evening dose to half of his current). So we'll continue with our weekly labs. In the meanwhile, he continues to have a low white count. We're going to hold off on his regular vaccinations for now, since if he has a fever because of his shots we wont be able to differentiate between a line infection or something else.

Our other challenge these days is keeping Ibrahim away from his big brother who has a cough/cold/fever. Poor Hamza is being quarantined in his bedroom!

Wednesday, Feb 4th

Ibrahim had an unexpected trip to St Jude today. He had some oozing of blood above his central line site in his neck (at the point of insertion of his tunneled catheter) and so I took him in for blood work. His platelets have dropped a little to 85,000. A slight drop is not entirely unexpected with a decreased steroid dose, but we'll have to watch his numbers closely. We'll keep our Friday appointment to recheck his counts and continue the same dose of steroids (he's down from a three times a day dosage to twice a day). As for the line, we're going to try to save it. The radiologists will try to fix it by correcting the defect. So we have to go through NPO (nothing to eat) for four hours before the procedure again just in case he's not cooperative and needs anesthesia. So we'll be busy for the rest of the week.