Free With Purchase!

Like a party favor or toy at the bottom of the cereal box, you get a lot of free! extras! with leukemia.

Like fusobacterium necrophorum.

Try saying that 10 times fast.

I have a nickname for it but this is a family-friendly blog.
Use your imagination or name it whatever you'd like.

It's just one of those bacteria that live in your mouth.
And mine.
And....Sam's.

And when your immunity is low...and you have a few loose teeth...it causes infection.

So now we have a name for the bug that is infiltrating my Sam.
And there are antibiotics that will stomp it out.

But seriously? This is one time I would have been happy to read "Sorry, you did not win. Please try again" on my soda cap.

Otherwise, it was a pretty mild day. Way better than yesterday.

Sam discovered that Thinking Putty works to create "magical illusions" like this one:

 
Plus we had a surprise visit to x-ray, since, surprise! You need a chest x-ray when you have our new little friend, fusobacterium necrophorum. (Have you tried saying it 10 times fast yet? Here's another chance!)

So we got a little ride down to x-ray, a short wait, and then a quick picture of Sam's insides. (I won't comment on the fact that it was the same x-ray room we'd been in back on June 9th...but the thought did cross my mind.)

 

I won't make you wait for three hours to get the results. (If you want, feel free to step away from your computer for 3 hours and then come back to read the next sentence to get the full experience.)

Luckily, the x-ray is clear and so the course of treatment is just antibiotics.
Whew. I'd hate for our party favor to come with its own party favor.

So...we wait. Do the ANC dance for us, ok? Today was 60. We know it goes up and down...but we're hoping to go home SOON.

Until then?
We're just embracing the motto on this t-shirt, which Sam got from the Jessie Rees Foundation - Never Ever Give Up (NEGU). It looks like they do some pretty cool things to help kids with cancers and Sam was pretty into his NEGU shirt today when everyone asked him about it.

One day at a time here in room E582.
Stay tuned....