Back to IC...

Ben had another appointment in Iowa City today. He did an amazing job when the nurse took his blood today. Then he wanted to do his own paperwork again! Unfortunately, our news was not good... Ben's platelet count went back down and is now at 37000. Ben was pretty upset so the doctor said that he could start soccer next week, but we will need to watch for any bruising. He might not be able to play the whole season, but we will see. Ben will also start a bone marrow medicine to help his marrow produce more platelets so that the ones being destroyed by his antibodies can hopefully be compensated for. It was very frustrating, as we had hoped that the last medicine had worked and that his platelet count would stay higher, but it just wasn't meant to be today. Our happy little boy has had to deal with a lot these past few months. I don't have the words to explain exactly how I feel... We have been through plenty of health scares, but this one has definitely been different. I think the biggest difference is that our boy is older and he can understand more of what's going on. We are having to spend much more time answering questions and explaining things that we don't even understand. We will get through this and we will hope and pray that this newest med will work for Ben!

Games...

We tried a new place for lunch today... Quarter Barrel. It's a brewery, pizzeria, and arcade! We had a scrumptious mac and cheese pizza and the boys had fun playing all the games. They had a lot of old arcade games so Nick loved playing the old Pole Position, Donkey Kong and PacMan. I even played some Galaga! The boys really liked playing pinball and they were pretty good at it! It was a great time! I had to get my hair cut in the afternoon and Nick took the boys to work with him for a little bit. The boys love going to Dad's "workshop!" We also filled out our brackets for the NCAA tournament, so we will see who wins. The winner gets to pick where we go out to eat when the tournament is all over!

Spring Break!

Spring Break is here!!! We spent our Monday morning at the theater watching Captain Marvel!!!

Homework...

Ben found a quiet place to read his book after school and Conner wanted to do some extra research for a school project! I am happy any day that they don't complain about doing homework!!!

Weekend!

We went to Ankeny this weekend to visit my sister's family. We had such a great time and our four kids were so happy to see each other. We really needed a night away from home and some fun time for our boys! The kids played lots of Nintendo, had a slumber party in a fort, and we celebrated Piper's birthday! The kids even beat the dads at a game so they got to celebrate with sparkling cider. The kids actually all slept great in the fort all night so that was a nice surprise! Fun weekend!!!

Great News!

We took Ben back to Iowa City Hospital today to have his platelets checked and talk to the hematologist. He has had a rough road and has taken to writing in his journal a lot and chose to do this on the way to the appointment. When we got there, he wanted to fill out his own paperwork, which amazed me! We got some great news... after two weeks of a high dose steroid, Ben's platelet count increased from 20000 to 99000!!! (99000 is still low, but we will take it!) We were ecstatic and Ben and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes, both thinking that we would finally have a welcome break from worrying! We will enjoy the next few weeks and Ben can participate in PE and recess for now, so he was sooooo happy! We have to go back in a few weeks to see if the platelet count will keep going up or will go back down when he gets done taking the steroid. Ben posed with his hospital bracelet (he gets one every time we go) before he threw it away! Today is a happy day!!!

Dream Catchers...

Ben and Conner have been wanting to make their own dream catchers, so we finally took the time today to make some! The boys are pretty excited to see if they really keep bad dreams away...