No news is good news? ...No news is just annoying. His neutrophil % is still zero which means his ANC is still zero. It needs to be around 200 for two consecutive days to be able to get sprung from the joint & go home for a while. It hasn't been abnormally long and his numbers aren't rising abnormally slow, it's just the "hurry up and wait" is getting pretty old. He's taking it better than I am though. (bc he's a rockstar)

He has been taken off the 24hr IV now so he can walk around without us having to drag the IV pole. He loves to "do 13 laps" around the floor, even though he has to wear a mask when he's out of his room (damn 0%...). He loves to take his scary bear around and frighten the nurses. Boys. 😏 He has mastered the automatic door, keycard reader, and the "open doors with your elbows bc mom will flip out if you touch them with your hands" move. He enjoys trips to the library cabinet and the ice machine. He's making the best of his stay, for sure.

His mood is mostly happy and silly, typical Bean. Sometimes he is overly tired, gets fed up with the constant flow of people in and out of the room at all hours, and gets pretty crabby about it... but that is to be expected. He's handling it all way better than any adult I know would, including myself.

His rash is all but gone. Finally. But his skin has been so stressed that the BP cuff still leaves striae and even a good cry leaves the petechial rash on his little face for days. 

His hair is all but gone as well but he doesn't seem to mind much. "Mom! I've got a bald spot!" and he laughs. The worst part for him is that it was getting all over and was itchy, so we cut it shorter and have started combing it before bed to keep the loose bits from annoying him in his sleep. The falling out has seemed to slow. I hope he gets to keep his little duckling fuzz that he's got going on now but we'll see.

His appetite is pretty much back to normal and he's eating and drinking well. His current favorite breakfast is eggs with cheese in them, strawberries, and milk with a bit of chocolate syrup. He's been off of his typical bacon for a couple of days. I didn't think it was possible but I think he's just baconed out. He eats a little less at lunch and a lot less at dinner but he's a good snacker. He's digging yogurt and white cheddar popcorn lately. We still have three pounds to go till he's back up to his intake weight so I'm trying to fatten him up like a fairytale witch. "Apple?" 

Tuesday night there's a meeting about how to integrate him into school this fall so that should be interesting/complicated/insane? We'll see.

I did get a chance to go home yesterday and go through the boxes from the Amazon list. A HUGE THANK YOU to Auntie Erin, Jim, Sara, Beth, Em, Matt, Laura & Ash, Kayla, Lixa, Hollie and anyone else I may have missed (the little Amazon receipts were everywhere!) for helping us through this trying (and expensive) time of our lives. He loves the unicorn and dragon. The poor nurses don't know what's coming. 😂