Day 418, Normal Platelet Count!

Happy news here!  Hunter's last two labs have been awesome.  His platelets were 289, which is right in the middle of normal range.  White count and hemoglobin are also normal.  Praise God-this hasn't happened since transplant!  The dosage of his Nplate shot was reduced and his steroids reduced to 20 mg.  In the past Hunter has started getting more sleep on this steroid dosage, so hopefully he can rest and put back on some muscle mass that the high dose steroids have eaten away.  His feeling has returned on all but the tips of his toes, so his walking looks normal.  We are so thankful!

We've kept busy the first two weeks of summer with swim lessons for Benton, trips to the park, library story time, and Benton's 6th birthday.  Swim lessons were across town at 8:30, so the past three days have been really nice to have no alarm clock.  We also celebrated Hunter, G-Daddy, and Poppa this last weekend.

Hunter is a fabulous example of sacrificial love and putting your faith in action!  I'm glad we're training up men of God together!

I left swim lessons every day in awe of the patience of Teacher Lynn and Teacher Sherri.  They had groups of busy 4-6 year olds and all of them made major improvements.  I wish I had the photo to prove it, but Hunter and I were in the same swim lesson class together 25 years ago.  Benton swam the entire 50 meter length of the pool his last day of lessons.  He is officially a swimmer and we can ditch the floaties.

These cousins had a blast together!

 Nana and G-Daddy have some new editions to their farm.  They needed help to round up their cows for the vet to check.

 Benton was also very excited to find out about his TWO cousins on their way!  Aunt Macey and Uncle Chase asked Benton to pray for a baby, and he has been a faithful prayer warrior.  They were very sweet to bring Benton his own sonogram picture.  This is his really happy face:)  There should be lots of excitement this year in the Hanner family!  It looks like there is a really good chance that these babies are identical.  Maybe there's some hope for some girls around here;)

 The boys had a blast throwing cow cakes and filling water troughs.  They were all soaked by the time they finished.

The playground across from Benton's baseball field was just redone.  We've visited twice.  My little daredevils love to climb and have no fear.

We celebrated GG's birthday during swim lesson week.  They live right by ACU and we enjoyed stopping in after swim lessons.  Our kids are so fortunate to be loved by my grandparents.

Somehow I blinked and this little guy turned 6.

Benton got new clubs for his birthday, and is looking forward to spending time with his daddy at the golf course.  They went to the range and Hunter was impressed with Benton, and very unimpressed with his own leg strength.  Hunter was so sick for Benton's birthday last year, so it made this one just a little more meaningful to both of us.

 Cracker barrel breakfast for the birthday boy!

For dinner he chose Sharkys and a Cajun Cone snowcone and requested to sit between Nana and Honey.  Pretty good day!

 We've visited the pool several times.  These water babies sure take good naps after swimming.  It's rough to be 3....

 I can't say enough about these two men and their influence on their families.  G-Daddy and Poppa both are full of wisdom and integrity, love and encouragement for all those around them.  We had fun celebrating them for Father's Day.

 As we wean Hunter's platelet shots and steroids down, we ask for prayers that he can maintain his platelet counts.  Also, we pray he can get more than 5 or 6 hours of sleep on the lower dose of steroids. Hunter and I  long to be done with transplant and return to the normal life we've been dreaming of for over a year now.  Thankfully, it looks like ITP is behind us, and we pray it never returns!