Answers....Finally!

Yesterday afternoon we got a phone call from Callen's hemotologist. Although they told us it was highly unlikely they would find anything on the first round of labs....they DID!! Callen's blood came up positive for an antigen agains her neutrophils (a type of white blood cell). She has now been diagnosed with Autoimmune Neutropenia. This means that her body does not recognize her neutrophils so it sees them as enemies and in turn produces an antigen to attack them. So although she produces neutrophiles her body destroys them before they can build up and be there to fight off any infections. The Dr. said that she can still be treated pretty normal we just have to be more cautious and it will be alot more serious if she does catch something, she will have to go in for antibiotic shots to help her body fight off infections.

The Good part about all of this is that she will likely outgrow this within the next couple of years. I read that 80% of babies that get this spontaneously outgrow it within 2 years of diagnosis. SO... although it might be a rough two years with a very paranoid mom, Callen will hopefully outgrow this and can act just like a normal child in a couple of years. I know this may not sound like good news but since in the back of my mind i've been terrified that Callen had some kind of cancer and is going to die, to me..... this sounds like really good news!

Also, great news, we shouldn't have any more trips to San Antonio to see the Dr., he just told me that she will need to get tested every 3 months to monitor her neutrophil count.

SO.... i'm feeling pretty good lately, it is really nice to just have some answers instead of having no idea what's wrong.

Also, thank you to all of you for your kind words and your support, I have so many good friends that have been so sweet to ask how we are doing and offer assistance!

UPT Graduation!

Finally, after a long year of pilot training we are finally done! Dan received his aeronautical rating as well as his wings, such a big accomplishment. I am so very proud of Dan and all of his hard work this past year. I know it hasn't been easy for him but he has done such a great job both as a student and as a husband and father. It was a great week for us, we were able to do all kinds of fun activities that are included in graduation. We were also able to have both Dan's parents and sister here as well as my parents for the last week and on the day of Graduation Dan's aunt and uncle drove down from Austin to be with us. Here are a few pictures from all the activities.

We all were able to take our turn flying the T-1 Simulator

The Retreat/fly over ceremony

Dan Receiving his wings from Col. Deucette

I was able to pin Dan's wings on, it was a big honor

Dan broke his first set of wings and presented the other half to his dad, it is suppose to symbolize luck throughout his flying carreer by being the only wings that will ever be broken.

Isn't he cute!! :)

Uncle doug and Aunt Sue

My parents

My parents, us, Dan's Parents

Dan and his Dad. His Dad was a pilot in the Navy

Callen Update

So I've had alot of people ask me how Callen has been doing. It has been pretty up and down lately. She had another week's battle with fevers and her Neutrophil (white blood cell) count went down again after going up slightly. We made the trip to San Antonio again, they had results back from one of her previous labs that said she had been negative for Roseola, so basically the Dr's are back to where we started, which is having absolutely no idea what is causing her to have no white blood cells. They basically told me it could be anything from a number of various autoimmune dissorder she was born with, chronic benign neutropenia which she has a 50% chance of outgrowing by age 5, her body could be attacking itself, all the way up to worst case it could be some form of cancer.

SO... they took as much blood as they could afford to take from her and sent it off to someplace in California for more labs. They said most likely since it could be so many things most likely we won't find anything out on the first round of labs and there will be many more rounds of bloodwork before we get any answers. We're just hoping to have some kind of clue which direction to even take for the next labs. Once the fevers go away and Callen starts eating and sleeping again she really looks and acts perfectly healthy. So right now she is doing well, she's my happy girl. Since she is so severely neutropenic (low neutrophils) we just have to be super cautious about where we take her and what kind of germs she might pick up while she's there. So we're slowly starting to actually get her out of the house, we took her to a couple graduation events and we took her to church. I've never been one of those germaphobic people that washes my hands nonstop but I think i've been keeping the hand sanitizer companies in business lately!!

Anyway, that is what's going on in the life of Callen, hopefully we'll get this all figured out soon so she can always be my happy girl.

Thanksgiving

So I know I'm a little late but we had a Wonderful Thansgiving! We took a trip up to Austin to visit Dan's Aunt and Uncle. They treated us SO well! We had such a great time! We had a wonderful dinner of course and did a lot of relaxing and games with the family. They are such fun to hang out with, it is nice to have someone close! Uncle Doug and Aunt Sue were so sweet, they watched callen for us while we did all sorts of exciting things (date night at the Melting Pot..mmmmm, Watching the new Bond movie, and black light mini golfing!) I love getting alone time with my hubby! What a great trip, and the best part of the whole thing... I didn't have to cook at all!
I hope everyone's thanksgiving was a great as ours!