June clinic visit

We went in for Carter's monthly clinic visit last week.  The Dr. said Carter looks great!  His numbers are up a little bit from last month.  White blood cell count is 2800, ANC 1700, hemoglobin 12.1 and platelets 211,000.  Since his ANC is slightly above the 1500 that they like to keep it below, they increased the dose of one of his oral meds a little bit.  His sedation went really well and he woke up feeling better and a lot less wobbly this time around.  He's been sleeping more since then, recovering from the chemo but he's pretty much back up to his normal energy levels now. 

It made me very happy the other day when I realized that this summer I will NOT have to put sunscreen all over his bald head!  And he hasn't thrown up in 2 months!!!!  The last time that was true was about a year and a half ago.  We are all so happy that he's feeling so good.  Also, I just registered him for kindergarten.  Holy Cow.  The office lady was so very sweet.  It's all over his registration papers that he's going through chemo for leukemia.  She told me, without asking any questions or anything first, that they will do whatever they can to help him and keep him healthy.  She said, "We're all moms here, we understand!"  She was so kind and caring and it helped to calm my anxiety a little bit.  He, of course, is incredibly excited to start school.  He will love it and do great there, I'm sure.  It's me I'm worried about.... and his little brother who will be so sad to have his best friend gone everyday.  But, life goes on, and thank goodness for that!

We have been busy!!

 Well, Carter is the police chief.  He was "sworn in" a couple weeks ago.  This was before the ceremony and all the media were filming and taking pictures, the sergeant was pinning on his stars, and he was completely oblivious, playing with the toys.

 Repeating the oath.

 Shaking hands with the sheriff.

 

 The next day we were invited to a service honoring the police officers who've been killed in the line of duty.  It was really touching and I'm very grateful that we were invited to be there.  Afterwards, Carter got to go around and meet all the police dogs.  Have you ever seen a police dog up close??  They're really big!  I was a little nervous but I think Carter pet each and every one of them.  He was very excited to find out that he's the "boss" of the dogs also :)

 We were in a parade, riding in the Sheriff's boat.  

 Carter was invited to be the ribbon-cutter at the opening ceremonies of the Rose Festival.  It was so awesome!  He loved the gigantic scissors, even though he couldn't hold them up by himself.

 

 He was on live TV as he cut the ribbon!

 After the ceremony, we were given wristbands to go on all the rides we wanted.  Oh man, they boys had a blast!!  After a few hours it started pouring rain but we still had such a fun evening.

His brother occasionally calls him "the sheriff" or "the chief".  And Carter often tells people, "I'm the sheriff!  Did you see me on the news and in the newspaper?"  He asked while eating an apple, "Do Sheriff's always eat all of their apple?"  I could see this working in our favor...

More fun to come!  But first, another clinic visit in a couple days.  Stay tuned.