Numbers Up!

We made our way to Sick Kid's today as we normally do on Tuesday so Parker may give blood and receive his ADAGEN injection. It has been almost four months of receiving the enzyme injections so we figured it should begin starting to take effect shortly. I had mentioned in an earlier post a procedure called flow cytometry to check for the different T-cells that he is producing as well as his B-cells. While doing his regular blood work, Parker gave some blood so that another flow cytometry could be done. Although we have yet to receive the results for this test, his regular CBC did come back and we were very pleased. Parker's numbers were the highest they have been since first going on the ADAGEN. His white blood count was 6.5, and his lymphocytes were 2.64. Of course, after receiving an IV for IgG, that level was up as well to 8.1. I don't want to be too excited until the T and B cell marker test results are in, but this is definately encouraging.

A couple of months a go I had written an article about Parker's weight gain and had included a graph from Excel illustrating how he had gained his weight. I have continued to track his weight and have noticed that in the past few weeks he has begun to increase in weight at a slower rate. This is normal according to the charts that I have looked at. I am very pleased at how perfectly he conforms to the graph each week that I have been using. You will notice that there are two portions to the graph with two separate slopes. The steeper slope depicts his rapid weight gain while he tried to make up the weight that he lost when he was sick. You will also notice an equation beside each line. This equation is the equation for that line and the number we are concerned with is the value before the x. The steeper the line, the greater the value will be. This numbers indicates the average daily weight change in grams. Parker has been gaining weight at an average of 22 grams per day.


Amongst all of the good news I do have some bad to mention. Since receiving his IV a week a go, we have noticed that Parker appears to be having what seems to be nightmares. Each night we go into the little monkey's room because we here him crying. The only thing is, is that he is crying in his sleep as he dodges his arms and moves his head. The episode does not last very long and I am noticing that they are occurring a little less frequently but I must say that I do feel quite bad for the little guy. Let's hope that these episodes stop soon.