Great news today- Mason cleared all testing and we are just getting settled back into a regular room within the Aflac center once again!!

He ended up sleeping pretty much the entire day and night yesterday. I thought for sure that he would wake up at some point and be unable to go back to sleep in the middle of the night, but his body was just so tired from the trauma it had just been through.

They hooked him up to IV nutrition at about 10 p.m. last night that will run continuously until he gets strong enough to be taking in all the nutrients on his own again. They were also able to use the feeding tube to give him his required oral medications. My head hit the pillow at 10:30 p.m. and I was out.

He did wake up a few times throughout the night to use the bathroom and get a drink of water, but otherwise he slept well, and so did I.

We both woke up around 7 a.m. today feeling so much better. He requested Frosted Flakes with whole milk for breakfast, and by 8 a.m. it was pretty clear that he was feeling much closer to okay for the first time in days. He asked to turn on his favorite movie channel, and we sat together and watched Transformers.

His blood pressure was stable and his heart rate had slowed back to what would be considered "normal" for his age. He had a slight fever still, and they were able to give him Tylenol to help reduce it further. They were required to do a repeat EKG today before they could clear him from the ICU, as the results from yesterday's EKG were abnormal. However, the nurse said that based on the elevated heart rate, that was to be expected. Today's test was normal, which we will take as a win.

They also came in to do an ultrasound on Mason's liver. His liver enzymes jumped by a lot and they were concerned that the fever and difficulties with blood pressure could have been caused by an infection in the liver. But also- after the hypotension that he had on Friday night/Saturday morning, it is also fairly typical to see the same jump in numbers. The ultrasound showed no significant changes from the last ultrasound that he had, so we were released to head out of the ICU and back to the Aflac floor. We consider this a HUGE win for the day!

Then he proceeded to eat 2.5 Zaxby's nibblers and fries. Which he was able to keep down with no issues. And he was able to take his oral medicine in pill form. More wins on the day!

In addition, in speaking to the doctor in charge of Mason's case today, she let me know that while he does still have leukemia blasts in his blood count, the number did go down today, which is a trend that they like to see. Win!

We do have a few things we are still trying to work through:

1. Nausea relief- the PACT team has taken over trying to determine a course of treatment that will provide real, lasting relief from the ongoing nausea. We continue to tweak dosages and meds to find the best solution.

2. With the liver enzymes being high, Mason is on the edge of being restricted from being allowed to take Tylenol for his fevers. We either need his fevers to resolve or the liver enzymes to decrease tomorrow to make sure he can continue to receive some relief through the medicine.

3. While his rash is looking a little better, it does itch some, so we are hoping that continues to disappear as we move further away from this episode of whatever flared in his body over the weekend.

While we are back up on the same floor, we were moved to a different room. We have an amazing view of the Atlanta skyline that I can't wait to look at tonight when it gets dark. We can also see Stone Mountain. And best of all- there is only a shower option in the room, so Mason knows that there is no physical possible way for me to force him to take a bath again. Problem solved (sigh).

Thank you for all the support and encouragement following yesterday's post. It was a disturbing few days, but Mason was given excellent care by a team that knows exactly what he needs. Thank you for your continued prayers and jokes via Smilegram (which can now be sent to Room 559).