Skyler started the second half of this Delayed Intensification phase today.  Im so happy we are almost done with this one.  Maintenance is getting closer and closer!  We spent six hours at the hospital today getting a lumbar puncture and bone marrow aspirate.  He wasnt scheduled for a bone marrow aspirate today but I mentioned that I thought it would be good because of this last infection that we still dont have any answers for.  The doctor thought it was a good idea and decided that if we were going to do that than we might as well do a biopsy as well.  So along with bone marrow they also took a little of his bone to biopsy.  Skyler did really well this time and played and laughed up until he saw the white stuff (anesthesia) go in, but he was out within seconds so we wasnt scared for too long.  He woke up pretty sad because he was dizzy but it didnt last long and he did great after that.  We headed back up to clinic after to get some chemo.  Today he got ARA-C and Cytoxan.  They have to give lots of fluids before they give the Cytoxan because if this drug sits in his bladder than it could hurt it ( I totally forgot what its called but it involves bleeding from the bladder)  In the past Skyler has not done well with fluid boluses so I was very hesitant to let them give it to him, but since it could be really bad for him if it sat in his bladder I gave the ok.  I was still really worried after he got about 100 mls so I asked if Skyler could drink the fluid he needed instead of going through his line and still be ok.  They told me if he could drink half of a big water bottle in an hour they wouldnt have to give him the rest of the bolus.  Skyler was a champ and did it!  Im so proud of him because I know it was so hard but he did it anyway.

We also got some good news today.  His CRP, which is a test that indicates infection, came back and it dropped from 18 all the way down to 2.  This is such a relief! His white count and ANC have gone up but since his CRP has gone down they arent really worried right now.  Also the doctor was able to look at the slides from the marrow they took and so far everything looked good, they didnt see any cancerous cells!  Now that was an even bigger relief.  I have been so worried about getting these results back so knowing that it looked good makes me one happy momma.  The official report doesnt come back for a week but I feel really good about things right now.  

Here we are waiting to go back for the LP and aspirate.  He is giving mommy a back rub while watching TV, what a sweet boy.

This is RTU (Rapid Treatment Unit) where they do the procedures

Here he is just waking up from anesthesia.  He wasnt too happy at first.

Mommy and Sky.  Im so proud of this boy!

He starting rubbing his belly saying it was really big after he drank all that water.  It was so cute.  And dont worry that is not the outfit he came to the hospital in, he had an accident during the LP so they gave him these pants to wear.

These are the sites where they took the marrow and put chemo in his spine.  He is really sore right now from where they did the biopsy, he can barely walk tonight.  He is a tough kid though so Im sure it will be ok tomorrow.