Clouds of Mercy

Yesterday was Watts' half birthday and we celebrated with sweet treats (which our noodle boy didn't eat a bite of) and a park ...

"Happy New Year from the Van Patters. We are thankful for so many things as the year 2014 comes to a close and 2015 begins, not the...

After having his ANC (absolute neutrophil count) hover around 3400 the last 4-5 weeks, yesterday we were surprised when it came back as 422....

We are home and Watts is doing great. He seems to be acting the most like himself that he has in the past three months (since he initially g...

Watts' numbers look good today so we should be discharged in a few hours! Here are some photos from our 9 day stay...     ...

Watts is a wild man, super happy and very active...and his ANC reflected that today! It jumped from 0 to 168 so we might be going home late ...

Blood counts are the same today (ANC is 48) so we are doing more isolated hanging out and waiting. He slept well last night and seems to be ...

I have two hands again (Watts is napping in his crib!) so I thought I’d write a bit more. I’ve found that writing is therapeutic for me, a...

Watts has been hospitalized for a blood stream infection. We are not sure yet where it came from but could be related to his horrible mouth ...

Watts didn't clear the methotrexate last night (was only .02 off!) but did this morning. Watts and I left Brenner within minutes of gett...

We are hanging in here at Brenner. Poor Watts has had a rough time handling the second round of HD Methotrexate. His mouth sores have spread...

We are back at brenner, readmitted on schedule to start round 2 of the awful HD Methotrexate. Watts already had his Lumbar Puncture and is c...

Watts is feeling pretty puny. He's sleeping restlessly and not wanting to eat. I'm concerned about him possibly developing some mout...

We're still doing well in Room 913.  We're done with chemo for this phase (!) and simply waiting for the ANC to go up so we ...

  Watts' has had a cranky 18 hours or so. Because his numbers have also dropped some, they are giving him a...

Watts is "getting better" every day. The infection is making its way from his little body and the drug withdrawal symptoms are dim...

We had a good morning today. Watts seems to be returning to his usual self as the methadone is weaned from his system. He is smiling more, p...

The title pretty much says it all. It was pretty great to hear a giggle after almost 3 weeks. Still looking forward to getting back to THIS ...

It feels like we've turned a corner with the drug withdrawal stuff. Watts has been less inconsolable and even content to rest on ...

We are in the throes of chemo this week and still dealing with drug withdrawal from the fentanyl. We have an eight day plan to reduce the me...