Hangin' In There

John woke up in MUCH better spirits today than he has so far this week! He actually smiled and played off and on this morning. I spoke to his doctor about decreasing his morphine dose, so we cut it in half. Apparently, that was just a little too soon for him, and we had to bump him back up for a couple doses. He's back down to the half dose right now, and he's doing well with it.

This morning's blood work came back with some good news and some not so good news. His wbc is completely normal again, but his sed rate is still at 95. Down a little, but nowhere near where it ought to be (normal sed rate is 15). His rheumatologists feel that they can "blame" the high wbc and extreme irritability on the ear problems, but none of his doctors feel that his knee/joint problems can be blamed on the ear issues -- especially considering the joint issues began back in June.

They are all still very undecided as to what is causing John to have the flare ups. They are saying that it may just be a different "class" of the rheumatoid arthritis. Either way, he is going to end up on much stronger medicine. We still aren't sure if he is going to have to have the bone marrow testing. His regular rheumatologist is on the floor starting Monday, so we'll talk more with him then (he's been talking to the rheumatologist who's making rounds this week, but he'll be actually making rounds starting Monday).

Today, he finally decided he wanted to eat a little something. Yay! He had about one and a half travel-size boxes of cheerios, which is fabulous! And he's been downing sippies like a champ, too -- another great sign!

Each day the nurses set a goal of something we want to accomplish. Today's goal was to "have a poop" as they put it. lol : ) Mission accomplished! Finally!

Another goal I set for us was to try to get him to walk or at least stand today. He tried! Another yay! He didn't get very far and was extremely stiff, but I am extremely proud of him for at least trying! Considering he hasn't been able to bear any weight on his legs since Tuesday, the fact that he even tried is amazing.

Crazy child is completely wired right now and does NOT want to go to bed lol I'm hoping he passes out soon because I am exhausted. I believe Santa is visiting the hospital tomorrow, so that'll be fun!

Here you can see him playing in a wagon -- they use wagons here to transport the kids around the hospitals rather than wheelchairs. Makes it more fun, and John really enjoys it! He generally naps in his wagon after he has tests done, and (as you can see) he even likes to play in it when he has no tests!