Progress, Trepidation, and Hope

We have completed day 2 of Consolidation 2.  Everett has had his Cytarabine (ARAC IT) injected into his spinal fluid today, had 3 doses of his high dose Cytarabline (HD ARAC), and more Tretinoin (ATRA) as he had before.  He is also receiving 24 hour Zofran to keep him from experiencing any nausea as well as IV fluids.  I stayed with Val and Everett for the first two days in case there were any signs of complication or adverse reaction to the new chemo drugs.  So far we have no events to report.  He will be starting MitoXANTRONE on Friday.  He received his ARAC IT injected into his spinal fluid and woke up about 20-30 minutes afterwards and was back in the playroom.  The Ketamine (sedative) is an amazing and humorous drug.  It almost immediately made him giggle uncontrollably before knocking him out.  Watching him become conscious was also amusing as his brain slowly regained the ability to communicate with his vocal cords.  Saying 'Daddy' took about 3 seconds.

Here is Everett celebrating kicking Cancer's ass (check out his sock/slippers):

We got the biggest room in the joint.  (Apparently when they heard Everett was coming, they set this one aside just for him)

Everett has taught himself how to properly eat an Oreo (by twisting the top off first, not sure where he learned that):

We have been amazingly fortunate to be where we're at.  Dr. Friedling (Erika) said it was nothing short of amazing to see his molecular results showing no translocation of his chromosones (which produces leukemic cells). 

We continued to be dismayed by some of the stories we hear from other parents in 9B in Children's.  Babies relapsing, teenagers going through multiple rounds of surgeries, little girls so weak and frail from treatments that their ribs stick out of their chest.  We've heard of families being torn apart by Cancer and parents who can't bare to see their children in these conditions and therefore have stopped visiting. 

I keep waiting for it to get easy, like one day I'll get so use to the routine that I won't feel guilty as I felt today 'leaving' my wife and son behind or not wish I could be the one staying there with Everett and letting Val lead the more 'normal' lifestyle back in Oil City.  No matter how strong you are or can be you don't ever stop worrying about what might lie ahead.  I just keep trying to convince myself that Everett is too special a child not to have a chance to live his life.  I just hope that God is on the same page. 

Please continue to pray for our little guy, we can't wait to see what kind of man he becomes.