A new do

Steven's hair has been falling out fast the last few days. When I tried to comb it to collect the falling hairs he wouldn't let me because he didn't want more to fall out. My sister jokingly suggested he wear a hair net to keep it on his head. He got a good laugh thinking about being a lunchroom server in his state. By bedtime he was very irritated by all the hairs in his face and pillow that he finally agreed to buzz it off. I had big picture and video plans for the ceremonious haircut, but Steven was in no mood to allow that. Our nice nurse brought in the clippers and went to town. When it was all over, he was still really irritated--this time by the short stubble left behind. So our nurse tracked down some duct tape and we tried pulling out what we could. We got quite a bit and he finally went to sleep. It must have been okay because he slept pretty well. They let him sleep without iv fluids. He's in better spirits this morning.

Yesterday, his fever came off and on all day. So far today his temp has been normal. They've run tests and cultures and so far nothing has shown up for either a virus or a bacteria. The doctor said that is not unusual. Often times they never know exactly why the patients have fevers. If his fevers stay away, we should be able to go home tomorrow.

We've had a nice, peaceful Sunday. I was able to go to a short sacrament meeting here at the hospital. I've been really worried about my sister lately. It was nice to feel some comfort that God knows us and loves us.

Zero

It's Thursday and Steven had more labs run today. His last ANC or neutrophil count was .2 or 200 and now they are 0. Steven said, "They can't be zero--there must be some in there." I don't know enough about it to say with all certainty, but the number they gave me was 0.0, so it seems kind of like zero to me. So, I guess school is out for tomorrow and Monday. I not feeling as dissapointed about it as I was last time--maybe because now I'm scared of infection!

We had another good day today. We got to wish Steven's cousin, James, a happy birthday. Steven wanted to surprise him with something and so we brought ballons and a cake. It made a huge difference in his attitude.

This afternoon I noticed a lot of hairs on his shirt and chair. He started tugging at his hair and sure enough, lots came out. He started to tell me about an idea, but it made him laugh so hard he couldn't spit it out. When he finally stopped laughing, he told me he wanted to play a trick on people where he acts really mad and starts pulling his hair out. We'll have to make a video--I'm sure we could use it in our family film festival somehow.