It's been two weeks since we learned Luke had relapsed.  Overall Luke is doing ok and his spirits are good .  He handled the erwinia pretty well this week.  He's not getting any chemo over the weekend. 

Monday will likely be a long day.  After labs are drawn Luke will meet with his oncologist.  After meeting with Dr. Wells the fun starts.  Luke will have bone marrow taken to check on blast cells.  Following the bone marrow he is scheduled for an LP, methotrexate and then erwinia. 

A bright spot this week is the appetite.  The steroids have kicked in so Luke is eating big and frequently.  Three meals a day and major consumption between meals. 

The chemo has taken Luke's white count down to zero so infection is a big concern. If is temperature goes above 101 F he will be heading to MDA.  His  platelets are dropping.  Eventually the platelets will drop to a level that Luke will need to be transfused.  I'd be surprised if he makes it through this week without needing to be transfused. 

Luke's sister Kate was here for the week.  She returned to KC this morning and will be back to teaching Monday.  Mom and Dad will go-it-alone this week.
Thanks to everyone that dropped to visit and for the meals.   No having to deal with preparing a meal for those days was a God send. 

There is a new member in the household.  Today we brought
home Traveler a 5 1/2 year old black lab.  We had to put Bailey down in January and Luke had been wanting another dog.  Traveler's was in a household of 10 and was having issues with a younger sibling in the household.  Traveler's mom had learned about Luke's and thought Traveler would be an ideal mate for him.  Luke felt well enough today to drive up to Elgin, Texas to meet Traveler and Traveler came back with us to Houston to see if we're a good match for Traveler.