Thank you for all the SmileGrams sent over the past 2 weeks! Asa has them hanging up on his hospital room wall and enjoys reading through them. I've even seen the Asa's doctors and nurses checking them out and several have commented on how loved and supported our family is.

Asa is currently in the recovery portion of this phase. The chemo did its job and his numbers are depleted. Every day he gets an infusion of growth hormone and an antibiotic through his port to regrow his cells and protect him from infection. On Saturday his red blood count was too low so they gave him a transfusion. Yesterday his platelets were low but the doctors chose not to give him a platelet infusion at first because of a nationwide blood shortage. Last night his port dressing was coming loose so they needed to change that and re-access his port (happens once a week to change out the needle). During this process he started bleeding at his port site and his blood was not clotting due to low platelets. Asa's nurse feared his platelets were lower than the doctors thought and went to the doctors and advocated for him. Praise the Lord they listened, and after a few hours of applying pressure (still hadn't clotted), they were able to re-access his port and give him a platelet infusion.

The port accessing process is rough for Asa. Lots of tears and screaming, but he is tough and the nurses commented of how kind Asa is, even when he's mad. Asa has also learned to take his pills like a champ! He is easily swallowing 4-5 pills 2x a day. Praise the Lord for that as you all know he used to really struggle taking meds.

So for now we wait for Asa's numbers to rise to a level safe enough to go home. We're hoping that will be before the weekend but only time will tell. 

Pictures: Asa's current favorite pastime is racing his remote control car around the hospital hallways. Last Saturday Asa loved hosting his siblings for family dinner, cookie decorating, and wheelchair rides. :)