10 mths

Little Collier is on.the.move.  Pulling up, cruising, full on crawling... fast!  He's into everything... his favorite thing at this stage is to pull out all of the mixing bowls and measuring cups in the kitchen.  And he's found Hank's watering bowl and the doggy door... althouugh, he hasn't figured out how to get through it yet!

Platelet Count #10

Finally!  We are in the "normal" range for Collier's platelet count.  257,000 baby!  I am so happy and relieved.  We have to go back just once more, in 6 mths, to make sure that his ITP isn't one of the 10% cases that reoccurs.  I'm planning on us being in the 90% that stays ITP free forever!

Platelet Count #9

Lucky #9!!  This mans' platelet count is WAY up to 93,000!!!  Yippee!!  We even got the go ahead to get his 6 month vaccines, which we took care of yesterday.  (Just in time for Mother's Day Out.)  Our hematologist wants to see Collier back in 2 months with the expectation that his counts will be in the "normal" range.  After that, we will go back in 6 mths for a check-up.  If all is well, we will not have to go back ever!! The doctor says that his ITP doesn't put him at any extra risk for contacting anything else.  In 10% of cases ITP reoccurs within 6 months of being back in the normal range, but hopefully we will be in the 90% that stays ITP free!  Words can not describe how happy we are to be almost through with this journey.

8 months

 The photo shoot pretty much resembles Collier's life right now.  What can I play with and, possibly, destroy?

 Look how cute his little face is when he's been "caught in the act" of crumbling up his 8 month sticker?

These days we are working on crawling (maybe by 9 mths?), waiving hello and goodbye, eating small chunks of food with our pencil grippers, and saying "mama" and "dada".  And the important goal of upping our platelet count... our next appointment is next week... wish us luck!

Platelet Count #8

I *think* we turned a corner today!!  Little man's count was up to 49,000!!!  This is a huge improvement from the 8,000 we have been working with for the past few months.  The doctor is hopeful that this is the beginning of the recovery stage for Collier's ITP.  (He did say that it could also be due to the fact Collier is getting over an illness... he's been stuffy, stuffy for the past week or so.  It could be the body's way of boosting platelets to get him over the illness hump, then when he's illness free the platelts could drop again.)  But, I'm hopeful that it is really recovery from ITP!  That's what I'm going with anyways.

The plan is still to hold off on Collier's 6 month shots (even though he's 7.5 mths now) and to go back in 4 weeks for another count.  If all looks good then, Collier will be cleared to begin Mother's Day Out and our appointments could be stretched to every 2 months!  Fingers crossed!!

7 mths

Collier is an active, little bug these days.  His arms are always flailing and his legs constantly jumping.  He has mastered sitting independently... I am going to soak this in as I know he will be on-the-move in no time!  He has gotten up on all fours a couple of times, so crawling is right around the corner.  Collier's babbling has improved and now consists of lots of squeals with some /b/'s and /d/'s thrown in.  He is still so smiley and is still super chill, only crying when his belly hurts or when he is over-tired.  Hunger and dirty diapers aren't that big of a deal to him... he might let out a little whimper to one of these.  Collier is digging all sorts of foods... today he had cantaloupe oatmeal, apricot carrots, and green beans with curry in them!  We are continually experimenting with textures, tastes, and temperatures with his food.  He seems to like it all.  His favorite person these days seems to be Hank.  Collier laughs and stares and stares and laughs at Hank... pretty cute to watch!

Splish Splash

Cuteness at 7 months!

First Food

Barley Cereal 5.20.2012

Six Months

How has it happened that half a year has flown by since our sweet baby was born?  That seems impossible to me.  But, here we are... 6 months in.

Stats: 18.10 lbs (75%ile); 26.8" long (65%ile); 17.75 head (80%ile)

Our big man has now started solids... cereal, squash, avocado, sweet potato, peas, carrots, and bananas are the foods we have tried.  Collier continues to be the sweetest little man, loves to jump in his jumperoo, rolls everywhere, has almost mastered sitting, and is working everyday on his babbling (more vowels than consonants at this time... but we're working on it!).

Platelet Count #7

Here we are 3 months into our diagnosis and, unfortunately, not much has changed except for our status in the ITP world.  We graduated from "acute" ITP (low platelets for 0-3 months) to "persistent" ITP  (low platelets for 3-9 months).  We are at 8,000 this week.  No bone marrow testing was brought up today, which is fine by me.  Instead, our doctor said that as Collier gets older/more active our watchful waiting approach might turn into a more aggressive treatment plan.  Time will tell.  As for now, he will see us every 4 weeks (rather than every 2) with instructions to call immediately if any bleeding begins.  Done!   

Platelet Count #6

The above image was taken last week.  This is petechiae bottom from having Collier in the baby bjorn.  Looks bad, but doesn't bother him in the least!  The baby bjorn will be used less and less in the future.

On to the good news!!  This week Collier's count is at 9,000.  While this isn't a huge increase, I am so thankful to be in the "+" category for once.  Maybe this means that things are taking a turn for the better??

Perspective

My across the street neighbors son, who is two, has had leukemia for about a year now. (He is now in the remission phase.) Today I got to talk to her about Collier's case. She said that when they started her son's platelet count was at 50! What the what?!?! I am now totally thankful for our 7,000! (Again, normal is between 150,000-450,000). Her sons' red blood count was unbelievably low also. Perspective is a good thing!

Thankful for...

In regards to Collier... while I'm taking his ITP a little hard, there is much to be thankful for.

1. That his body knew something was wrong and showed signs of petechiae which prompted me to take him to the doctor in the first place.  I tried to take a picture of his petechiae with my iPhone... it's above.

2. Something I am continuously grateful for is that it's not cancer... and that his white blood count has continued to be in the normal range.

3. That we live in a city with a fabulous Children's Hospital and for our team of highly qualified hematologists that are completely on top of our case.

4. For Collier's age.  Many times when he gets his blood drawn he is happy and smiley through the whole process.  That Collier is not yet mobile or very active... less threat of head injury!  (If it were Charlie, I can see that this would be a problem.)

5. That I decided to stay home this year and that Collier is not in a daycare setting or under the supervision of anyone but me.  I don't have to deal with the "what if something happened and I wasn't there" aspect or decision making. 

6. For my group of college girlfriends.  All of us are, in some way, in professions that deal with children with problems.  They "get" that this is a big deal and see it for face value.  I so appreciate them and their support.

So, whenever I am feeling down that my 5 1/2 month old's bone marrow isn't functioning properly I will come back and refer to this list and find peace in the thankfulness of all of it.      

Platelet Count #5

Little man's count is down to 7,000 this week.  (Enter sad momma face here.)  So, new plan... if it's still low in a couple of weeks the doctor says we might need to take a look at his bone marrow just to make sure all is looking ok.  Good news is that we got the go ahead to go on our pre-planned beach trip next week.  She encouraged us to already map out our route to the hospital and take our count with us just in case.  Will do doc!  Collier's 6 month shots are coming up.  Our hematologist would like to see the platelet count be between 25,000-50,000 before going ahead with those.  So, a couple more weeks of waiting, watching, praying and a little bit of beach time in between!

5 months

These days we are working on sitting independently. He's got the tripod move down pretty good! I have stretched him to an every 4 hour feeding schedule. I think this 17 lb. man can handle that! Collier is still waking to eat once per night. Takes about 15 minutes and he's right back down. He laughs at everything and rarely cries. He especially finds Charlie and his Aunt Jelly pretty funny. He's a bouncer and I can already tell that he will be an active toddler!

Platelet Count #4

Stuck at 8,000. No bueno. We saw our hematologist yesterday and she was even more reassured that this isn't cancer. (Truthfully, I didn't realize that cancer was still on the table!) We are continuing with the watchful waiting approach and are being stretched to every other week appointments rather than weekly. All in all a good appointment! However, Collier's finger bled SO much after his prick. It took 3 band aids and he was still leaving blood streaks places. No platelets equal no clotting. Poor little guy!

Platelet Count #3

Down to 8,000 this week.  We are continuing on the same course if watchful waiting and hoping that the platelets increase on their own.  We'll be back at Children's next Tuesday and will talk to the doctor then.

A look back

Collier- Three months

We are full of laughs, giggles and smiles over here. And cooing! Still not profficient in the sleep department, although most nights are 5-6 hour stretches. We've done two 8 hour nights thus far. The rolling over has subsided... I think the tubby belly gets in the way. Collier goes down without a peep, so crying it out hasn't yet surfaced. All in all, he is a happy, healthy, and fun baby!

Breakthrough?

My little man slept for 8 hours straight the other night! Thursday, Feb. 9. He was fussy from 7-9pm and I thought that was a bad sign of things to come during the night. He basically nursed for most of that time and was still hungry, so we gave him a bottle. Put him down at 10pm and he slept until 6am!! I couldn't believe it... it was awesome! (Of course at 4:45am I was staring at the monitor to make sure he was still alive.) On Friday we went to OKC and where back on our regular schedule of waking up in the middle of the night. Hopefully now that we are back home we can work on getting us back on track!