Tate Allen 5277868

Each time Tate gets any kind of chemotherapy or blood product, the nurses check the patient number on his wristband against the patient number on the label of whatever treatment he is to receive. The patient and the treatment must always match. Tate and Greg have had the number memorized for months and always recite it along with the nurses while they are double checking everything is correct.

Greg had a shirt made with Tate’s name and patient number. Tate decided to wear it today since he was getting Erwinia shots, and he knew the nurses would have to confirm his patient number. All three nurses laughed when they saw it. One of them said, “That’s the best shirt I have ever seen!” .

Tate’s ANC has increased to 57. That’s a nice jump from yesterday’s 26. Things are still very calm at the hospital. I think Tate is bored of being here, and it is making him a bit cross. It’s understandable. No 16-year old wants to be stuck in a room with one or both of his parents for 8 days straight. Greg and I have learned the hard way that as soon as we both leave the room, we miss visits from doctors, case workers, etc. The people that work here are extremely busy, and often the ones we miss don’t come back. It has happened enough times we make sure one of us is always in the room or close to it. I am hoping for a Monday or Tuesday discharge, but I am also not in a hurry to take him home if the doctors think it is safer for him to stay. Today we spoke with a Leukemia specialist, and she told us Tate’s low ANC is pretty normal at this point of treatment.

Phoenix Children’s Hospital has pet therapy dogs somewhere in the hospital every day. Yesterday Tate had a visit with this sweet pup. She was so gentle and well trained.

Yesterday we also met with the public school liaison that is going to get Tate re-enrolled for his last two high school classes. He needs to complete four semesters to graduate. “Just give him a diploma already!” is what I told the liaison. She was unimpressed. With the maintenance phase of treatment beginning soon, Greg and I believe Tate will be able to complete his high school courses by the end of the summer if not before. We signed him up for the courses earlier this year, but his body’s drastic reaction to chemotherapy made it impossible for him to succeed. Tate will be resuming one semester of Mythology online, and a home bound teacher will help him through the remaining three semesters.

Tate has lost 5 pounds since being admitted, and the doctor put him on appetite stimulants. They have not kicked in yet so he is still not eating. Over the next couple days we expect to see a welcome spike in his appetite. His weight is not dangerously low, but we have seen how fast it can happen and want to avoid it. He has zero interest in food; he said nothing tastes the way it normally does. Hospital food has been particularly unappetizing for him, which he finds disappointing because he normally really enjoys it.

The nurses had to change Tate’s port needle today, so he got to take a real shower between having the old needle removed and the new one inserted. Scott stabbed the Lord of the Rings staff Tate got for Christmas into a rubber stopper from some old crutches so Tate could use it at the hospital. Leave it to Scott to be that thoughtful and funny at the same time. Tate used the staff to make his way to the shower.