2005 Journal Entries

Archie is doing well. He still feels poorly, and he’s grumpy most of the day, but on paper he’s a different boy than the one we brought to the hospital last Thursday.

His blood counts have improved dramatically, so much so that the doctors don’t anticipate Archie will have to undergo a bone marrow aspiration. Although there are still blasts present in Archie’s blood, the percentage is more similar to his normal count than it is outrageously abnormal, as it was Thursday.

Archie is only receiving a fourth a liter of oxygen to help him maintain his oxygen saturation rate when he sleeps deeply. When he’s alert he’s able to maintaining his oxygen level himself, but when he sleeps soundly his numbers dip into the high eighties. I wonder if this isn’t always the case.

He no longer receives nourishment through his i.v., and is drinking enough to produce several wet diapers a day. Archie’s legs and feet are still puffy, but I’m sure the swelling will subside as he moves around more on his own. The medicine prescribed to treat his elevated uric acid levels has been discontinued, but Archie is still receiving both of his antibiotics intravenously.

Because he still has bacteria showing up in his urine cultures, the doctors are continuing the antibiotic treating Archie’s urinary tract infection longer than they originally intended. This means Archie will have to be hospitalized until the end of the week, but that’s fine with me. I’d rather Archie receive all of his prescribed dose intravenously than spit out over half of an oral dose of the antibiotic at me because that is exactly what would happen is we brought him home now.

Archie did make his flirty eyes and funny face at me today, and he held his head up without assistance longer than he has the past few days. These are all good signs that our good ole’ Archie is coming back to us. As Archie would say, pumping his little fists in the air, “Yaaaaa!”