Two White Blood Cells

Josh's MRI came back normal. The ophthalmologist dilated Josh's eyes and said everything looked good there, he didnt see any swelling. They are not ruling out pseudo-tumor completely, but it doesnt look likely. They want him to have a more definitive test done next week in the ophthalmologist's office, that will detect edema - no questions, but they are 99.99% sure this is not it. In two weeks they want him to see the neurologist, I'm not sure why.

There were two white blood cells in Josh's spinal fluid. They have sent this to be "spun down" (cytometry) so they can more closely look at what kind of cells they are and check for blasts in the WBCs they found. But the results of that are not back yet, and she didnt have an idea on the time frame for me.

Other than that Josh is being discharged, with a list of things to watch for, give Tylenol as needed but not more than two times a day, etc, etc.
Guess this will be a busy month for us after all... and I thought we were free until after Christmas. Ha!

Oh well... the worst part is being in limbo land, but other than that Josh is feeling well. Especially now that the fluid pressure has been released. He was like a new man yesterday. Really full of spit and vinegar - flirting with all the nurses and cracking jokes. So unlike his shy self. It was hilarious to watch and a much needed comic relief! I should've had a tape recorder!
Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers... We love you all!
The Fromknecht Zoo!

PS. the girls are ecstatic that we are coming home (probably more so than Josh - who loves having free reign over the TV ) Kenni said we are just in time for tomorrow and our new-found advent-style countdown tradition. I almost forgot tomorrow was the 1st already. Where has the year gone???

Josh in the Big House

Just a real quick update, because my laptop batteries are low. Josh was admitted to the hospital.

He had his spinal tap and they discovered the pressure on his spine/brain (CNS Fluid) is double what it is supposed to be. So they have admitted him to find out why. Dr Wollman says the probabilities are either a CNS relapse or a pseudo-tumor.

Josh will be heading off to have a MRI in a little bit. All his chemos have been put on hold for now. If all goes well we will be released tomorrow.

Hopefully we will find out the results of the spinal tap before we are discharged. Please, continue to pray for clean results.

Love the Fromknecht Bunch!

Strength in numbers

I've contemplated writing this update because I dont want to cause any undue worry, but I've finally decided that there is strength in numbers and I am hoping to get a little of this worry off my chest with each tap of my fingers on the keyboard.

I have butterflies in my stomach. For the past week or so, Josh has been having on-again-off-again headaches. That in itself might not give me too much worry, but he has also been having vision problems which he will describe as 'blindness', but try to get a 5-year old to describe what that means! He says it means he cant see TV for a minute. He cant clarify if it is blurriness, blackness or dizziness. He has also complained of noises hurting his ears. On top of all that, and this might be purely coincidental, we found a wart on his finger the other day. Which could be from being immuno-compromised, but his counts normally run high.

Josh was scheduled to go to Pittsburgh tomorrow, but after talking to his doctor, they have postponed his appointment until Thursday so that they can schedule him for a diagnostic spinal tap (no chemo). They will be checking for a central nervous system (CNS) relapse.

As I said earlier, there is power in numbers, so if you feel inclined, can you please pray for a clean spinal tap this coming Thursday.

We appreciate the messages left in his guestbook, so take a minute and say hello or leave a prayer. Josh does love us reading them to him.

I will keep you updated. Love you all!