Let me start by saying that Xander is doing great and we are all enjoying our stay at home.  We are getting out every day and he is enjoying the change of pace immensley.  We even went to The Cheescake Factory last night for our supper we were supposed to have had when I returned from Korea.  Xander was so good and we all had a great time.

However, we just received news this morning that Xander's Great Grandfather, and his middle namesake (Mike), passed away after serveral months of battling Leukemia.  His is joining his wife, Julia, and daughter, Doreen, and for that we are greatful.  We express our heartfelt concern and sympathy for the surviving children: Lenard (Xander's Gege), Pat, Nick and Brian.  We deeply wish we could be there to lend a hand and help support the family in their time of need.  To that end hopefully we'll be able to fly Baba back to help the family, and especially Gege who has been without his wife these last few trying months while she has been here helping her Grandson.  Baba herself is going to need a  vacation on a nice warm sandy beach before all of this is over.  Maybe a return trip through Hawaii??

Mike Panasky was a great influence on all of his children and grandchildren.  He embedded a strong work ethic in all of us and taught us that if we are to do something to do it to the best of our ability.  He was a farmer for many years and then a master carpenter after retiring from farming.  Xander's Dad will never forget the great times that he, his Dad, and Grandfather had when they all went out fishing, Mike Panasky's one leisurely obsession.  He beat prostrate cancer 17 years ago only to be given another challenge later in life.  We will all sorely miss him.  The world is now that much more sad without him.

At this time of grief we would also like to acknowledge some of our friends who are working through their own challenges along with us.

Around the same time Xander was going through his first surgery, our friends Lloyd and Gail's son Justin was undergoing heart surgery to correct a congenital defect.  The stay in ICU was long and trying, but Justin made it through and is on the road to recovery.  We hope that the family is looking to bright future after going through this ordeal.

Our friend Diane's mother was recently diagnosed with gum cancer.  She is an extremely positive lady and will no doubt will the cancer away.  We call for the family to be strong through the treatments and into her full recovery.  We will be pulling for her throughout and will be hanging on every update.

We were also recently notified that one of my Mother's friends had been diagnosed with breast cancer.  We ask her and the family to be positive and to know we will be with them through to her complete recovery.

2003 has not started out to be a great year.  The depressed economy and the shadow of war are enough to keep anybody awake at night without all of the additional chaos that has been sprung on all of us.  We just wish everybody the best in these turbulent times.  As my great departed Baba (Julia) always said, "I wish everbody would just get along."  To that I would just add that, "I just wish everything will be OK".

Ninth, and hopefull last, day in the hospital until we're back in on Friday.  No fever and a high ANC is our ticket out. 

Xander had a pretty good evening, he was given one more transfusion since his red blood cell counts were just a smidge shy of 33. 

He is currently just finishing off the aphoresis (stem cell harvest).  We will find out later tonight how many stems cells were harvested.  The need approx. 15 million.  If we're shy he will have to come back tomorrow.  Luckily he is taking the procedure in stride.  Xander phoned Dad to talk and let Dad know how the procedure was going (Mom dialed).

Mom and Baba will receive their training on intravenous medication dispensing and NG tube feeding later today and then they are out of the hospital for a few golden days at home.

His cough seems to be calming down, Mom only counted twice so far today.

We heard back from SCCA on his stem cell counts, later in the day and they harvested (approx.), and I quote: 47.81 million.  So there should be no need to harvest anymore, and supposedly no more G-CSF shots.

Xander was starting to relate bath time to the time before getting the shots so he was not enjoying his bath times as much as before.  Last night we told him "no more shots", and he seemed a little happier.  A few more nights to cement that  fact may be in order.

The evening is even more full of activity  now that we have to give antibiotics intraveneously every 8 hours (a 30 minute procedure) and need him through the NG tube 20 hours a day. 

Unless anything interesting happens in the meanwhile the next updates will probably be on the weekend.

We can now see some light at the end of the tunnel for this visit.

Xander had a really good night. Slept a lot and coughing was less frequent.  We were told by doctors that he will be released tomorrow.

He did not have a fever all night and his ANC is up at around 9,000 now.  He received more platelets becuase they have to be at a certain level for the stem cell harvest tomorrow morning.  Hopefully the Hickman works as it should.

We will have to receive training on how to give drugs intraveneously and feed him through the NG tube when he is at home.  On the job training.

We've met a few of the Canadian nurses down on this ward, so far from Calgary, Winnipeg & Toronto.  Nice to know they have the best in house.

It will be a busy day tomorrow.  Hopefully Baba and Xander have a restful evening.  Well, off to the hospital for some supper, a la Sandy and then back home to sleep.

Positive news today.  Xander's ANC is 1600 which is over 1000 and thus a really good sign.  Faster than the doctors anticipated.  All other counts are also up except for Hemoctic HCT which when down to 22.  Since his ANC is up so fast they believe they will be performing the stem cell harvesting soon (possibly tomorrow) depending on the blood test tonight.  He will be getting a blood transfusion today since his HCT has to be above 30 for the stem cell harvesting.  We dearly hope his Hickman line performs since the alternative is to get a femoral line installed.  All he needs - more tubes, anesthesia, and intubation.

Last night was pretty long with frequent coughing and waking up.  The coughing got so bad at 1:00 this morning he coughed out his NG tube (along with most of his stomach contents).  Obviously feeding him a little too much, although we still were not up to the amount they want to feed him.  He got it reinstalled in the left nostril this morning.  Fun stuff.

The doctors are trying a "FA" (flush and swab the back of his nose) test today to rule out if a virus is making him cough.  Thus we were moved into an isolation ward this morning (ahhh, peace and quiet).  This will not hinder us if they give us the go ahead to ship out home, which, again, could be as early as tomorrow.  We hope they determine why he is coughing quicky as it has been a long time and disrupts sleep and does not sound too healthy.

Gennaro is coming to put the finishing touches on his room today. Thanks Gennaro, Steve, Gege, baba (& Mom) for all the hard work getting his room remodeled.  This was started the week before he was diagnosed.  Finally we may actually have room for all of his stuffed animals - maybe.

Xander is, again, pretty much the same.

His blood counts decreased slightly, but the oncology personnel say it will recover quickly.

He got his feeding tube put in yesterday - through the nose.  So he is finally getting some  nourishment.

They are bringing over the stem cell harvesting machine so that when his counts so go up they will be able to harvest those ever important stem cells.

In that vein, Dad talked with the Transplant Case Worker at the insurance company and she was pretty unsure that the Seattle area had anybody that was accredited to perform transplants.  That meant two options: 1) Fly somewhere like Califormia where they do (not a great option with a sick child), or 2) take a huge hit in the pocket book to get it done somewhere that was not fully covered.  Luckily SCCA (Seattle Cancer Care Alliance) has a contract with them and will be covered.  However, first the insurance company has to approve the stem cell therapy for Xander.

Baba did us a huge favour last night and stayed with Xander at the hospital.  It was the first time Mom and Dad got to stay at home in the same bed for a long, long time.  It was kind of odd, in a familar way.

As the culture turns: Xander's bacteria cultures are getting more specific and so is the antibiotics he's being given.  He is still on two, but they are takig him off of vancomycin and putting him on something more specific, and less harsh.

Well, off to the hospital.  Hopefully we can be home soon.  Just need suitable blood counts and no fever.  We could all use the normalicy.

More of the same: cough, low blood counts, and waiting.

Last night was pretty good, but there was still a a fair amount of coughing.  Hopefully the antacid medication will kick in soon.

He went for an X-ray to check his Hickman line ends since he is not drawing well and will need to when going through stem cell harvesting.  We will get the results later today and see if he requires a new Hickman, or if they can re-route somehow.

He may also be getting a NG tube in his stomach so we can pump some nutrients into him since he is not getting them the conventional way.  Yeah - more tubing!

Today the Insurance company hassles started.  They are not covering the Neupogen since it was not ordered via mail order (??).  We will have to pay and then file a claim.  When phoning them to see why, after waiting for a while listening to elevator music Dad received a "Sorry your call could not be transferred - CLICK".  Oh so convieient.

All these little frustrations are building.

The  night was alright, but Xander was still had coughing fits now and then.  Benedryl and Robitusin don't seem to cut it.

Blood test was performed at 0400 and the HCT and platelets are edging downward again.  ANC is still in the dumps.  Hopefully his bone marrow recovers before more transfusions.

The swelling on his head seems to be much better.  It's kind of weird though, in that you can see pulsations through the liquid beneath the skin every so often.  He went for a CT just before Dad went to work.   Should get an update from neurosugery later.

He is on a antacid now, yesterday it was given in one big dose which did not help him in the evening.  Today it will be in two doses, one before bed time so hopefully it is a more peaceful evening.

Just waiting patiently for his blood counts to start edging up on their own.  Plus temperature spikes to cease so that we can go home for a little bit before his next round of chemo.

Had blood tests done early this morning and they showed a sharp decrease in platelets to 19 (10 is minimum for most patients but 30 is minium for CNS (Central Nervous System) kids).  He finally received the platelets at 9:00.  He was much more fiesty after the infusion.  He even went to the playroom to 'play' some Nintendo (this couldn't be good for later...)

His ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count - White Blood Cells that fight infections) was still under 200 and his Hemocrit HCT (% red blood cells) went down to 25 from 27.

Dad also talked to the residient and expressed his concern for the slow treatment of Xander's progressively worse cough.  The Upper GI in January was mentioned and she was going to see if giving him some Zantac would help since his stomach heaves before his coughing fits.

She also indicated that Staph infection was brewing in one of the blood cultures so that would explain the temperature spikes.  They would be discontinuing one antibiotic and replacing it with another to fight the Staph directly.

One of the neurosurgeons came down to take a look at Xander and relieved our concerns on pressure or bleeding in the skull. We were also told that the swelling on his head would probably take a few weeks to go away.

Every doctor says how great he is doing and how good he is looking.  With all the small things that concern us we are not sure we want to see what will concern the doctors.  We're also gun shy since the last time we were told he looked fine we learned he had a brain tumour...