It's getting cold enough here that I'm going to need to start going out and warming up the car before Tanner and I leave for clinic, especially now that our appointments are at 8:30 a.m.

He and I went out to the car this morning and it had frost all over the windshields and had to be defrosted before we could leave. I tried to get Tanner to go back inside while I warmed it up but he said that since he was already outside he didn't want to go back in the apartment. We had a few minutes out there that was pretty cold!

According to our schedule, our appointmens are at 8:30 a.m. throughout the rest of our time this trip. It's nice because it's not very crowded and you don't have to wait so long since they haven't had time to get behind for the day yet. It's bad because we have to get up and out so early!!

Neither he nor I slept well last night. I was so tired that I went to bed before he was even through watching his Plant Earth video. Since I was so tired I figured I wouldn't need anything much to help me sleep so I only took 1/4 of the sleeping pills they prescribed for me. Wrong! Once I woke up around 3:00 a.m. I still had a hard time shutting off my mind and going back to sleep.

When we were at clinic Tanner told me he didn't sleep well last night either. I told him I kept hearing him moan and he said it's because of his leg and that he just needs to be able to move it. He is going to be crushed if Dr. Nicholas doesn't take the cast off at the appointment on Friday. Even if he has to put on a short cast, at least he will be able to straighten and bend that leg. It's been in that slightly curved position since the first of July! He's handled it much better than I ever could have!! The nurses and PA's tell him he'll probably have to have physical therapy since it's been in the long cast so long.

They looked at his lab reports from yesterday and his potassium was low and they ordered him an infuser but before it came in, his report for today came through and his potassium had risen on it's own so they decided he didn't need one.

His white blood count is dropping and they think he will be neutropenic (no immune system) by tomorrow so they gave him a mask to wear when he comes to clinic in the morning.

He layed down in the recliner as soon as we got back to the apartment and said he wanted to take a nap so I went to the grocery store. I've come and gone and he's still asleep so I'm trying to be quiet.

I hope he doesn't sleep so long that he won't be able to rest tonight. These 8:30 a.m. appointments are hard on a 17 year old boy - and his mother!