A Day Late

So much has happened the past few days and I really want to apologise for not keeping people up to date. I just had my busiest week of work so I was short on time and was unable to write. I want to begin by thanking my beautiful and wonderful wife for taking over the blog duties and saying those wonderful things about me. I was trying to figure out the best way to get all of the information out to everyone so I have decided to write two seperate articles now. Yes, it is Saturday but I will predate this article for Friday, as it really should have been written then and I will follow it up with a second article about the "Playing For Parker" benefit at the Rivoli, as it deserves its own.

Parker had his second Clinic appointment today (Friday). We knew what to expect since we had gone to one the previous Friday. For those of you who are new to the blog, we take Parker back to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto twice a week. On Tuesdays, he gets his first of two enzyme injections. On Friday, he gets his second injection, and is seen by the clinical nurse, an immunology fellow (doctor), a staff immunologist (another doctor), in addiction to some other people that work at the hospital. The Friday appointment is called Clinic. At this appointment he is monitored to see how his treatment is going.

Clinic began by obtaining some measurements. Parker's weight, length, and head circumference were taken. Pretty much everyone now knows that I record quite a bit of data about Parker, including his weight. The previous week, I was spot on with my prediction of his weight after looking at the linear regression I obtained on his weight graph. Parker had been gaining 35.2 g/day so I predicted that his weight at clinic would be 7.30 kg +/- 0.05 kg. That means he should be in the range of 7.25 kg - 7.35 kg. Parker weighed in at 7.34 kg, so I was very pleased. Now, alot of people still used the Imperial System for their measurements with temperature and weight, but being spending so much time in the hospital we have been accustomed to using the metric system. That said, 7.34 kg is 16 pounds and 2.4 ounces. What a big boy. Parker also grew another half a centimetre bringing him to 62 cm, and his head circumference remained the same from last Friday. We are so happy that he is growing as well as he is.

After his measurements were taken, it was off to get his ADAGEN injection. Parker is not a big fan of needles, especially big ones that shoot quite a bit of fluid into your thigh, but he definately handled it well. After speaking with the fellow which is just a bunch of routine questions like, "How is he eating?", "Does he nap well?", "What is his sleeping pattern like?", we met with the staff immunologist. She is so wonderful and whenever Parker sees her he smiles and laughs. The conversation with her was pretty much about how his numbers were from the previous flow cytometry test and how to start him on rice cereal.

Parker's numbers are pretty much unchanged since the last test. His B-cells are still at a respectable number, as are his NK cells. We are still waiting for his T-cells to increase. There are three types of T cells which are matured in the thymus gland. It is these cells that have not increased in numbers as of yet. Apparently it takes a few months for these cells to increase. I am not sure if it is because the thymus gland is not used to working very hard, but I will find out. I have a paper on the long term efficacy of enzyme replacement therapy for adenosine deficient patients that I have sitting on my desk that I still have to read. I am pretty sure some of the answers are sitting in there.

On a note not related to clinic, Parker has been teething and on Wednesday night, after eating over 300 mL of formula we decided to give Parker Tylenol. Parker used to take 1 mL orally before his enzyme injections, but never right after a feed. I got through 0.5 mL of the Tylenol and my little boy started projectile vomiting all over me. I figured 300 mL of formula on me is better than 300 mL of regergetated formula on the bed or the carpet. So I just kept aiming the steady flow of vomit on my shirt. You know what Parker did after he finished? He laughed. He didn't quite eat another 300 mL to replace what he lost but he did have another good feed before bed. My wife and I could have kicked ourselves. We have always known that Parker does not like large amounts of medication after a large feed.

Thank you everyone for being so patient the past few days as you waited for anothee blog post. Come back later today for an article about "Playing for Parker".