Consolidation 4

     Everett finished his last round of inpatient chemo last Friday night (8/26) with no issues and now we are waiting (and waiting) for his blood counts to drop to zero and then to begin to recover so we can break out of this place for the last time.  This round went as smoothly as all the others, with only a few episodes of nausea and vomiting.  We have hit a minor bump in the road in the past 24 hours as Everett has been drinking a TON of fluids, but has not been peeing much at all.  The doctors gave him lasix last night and that seemed to flush the fluids out of his little body for a short time at least.  However, today we are back to dry diapers.  The doctors don't seem super concerned, but as the "crazy mom", I am getting more and more nervous as the hours go by.  I probably shouldn't have read that very long list of possible chemo side effects after all:(

     We met 3 families this week, 2 with boys (ages 2 and 14) who were diagnosed with leukemia just this week and 1 with a little boy who was diagnosed a month ago with stage 4, high risk neuroblastoma.  Everything I read about pediatric cancer says how "rare" it is, but it doesn't seem so rare as we walk the halls of 9B.  The rooms are full of cancer kids.  For some, this place is old hat, but too many are just starting their journey.  Everett and I have been doing our part to help the new kids acclimate to the oncology floor.  He is loving all the new friends he has here and it makes me beyond happy to see him having so much fun.

     John and Avery will be here tomorrow to celebrate the boys' 3rd birthday.  We have a party planned in our hopsital room with party hats, noise makers, and a Curious George cake big enough to feed the entire floor.  It's not how I imagined we would be celebrating their birthday a year ago, but we make the best of the cards we have been dealt.  I'll be sure to post pics of the festivities.  Much love to all of our prayer warriors!

Mom