The Last Dance

October 17, 2013

Unit 1 Room 1112 (new one for us)
Weight 15.4 Kg
Nurse: Lauren
ANC: 2500

That's right,  we have made it back to hospital on the 16th of October to start our final round of Chemo and so far you have slept though every treatment this round.  Your mom, our nurse and doctor were all caught off guard when your counts had recovered on Tuesday; the call did not come in till after 4 so the race was on to be ready.  However, coming this early also means we are on isolation, you developed a runny nose over the weekend, which is not the usual clear stuff.  No suprise as this month you stubbed your toe resulting in a fever and 3 nights in hospital, then you got your hand slammed in van door meaning a ER visit and now as I sit here and type this you have spiked a fever.  You don't want to just ride things out peacefully.

The main thing we are focusing on is that in about a month from now you should be done all your tests and your lines should be out, that is the plan.  Our primary nurse hopes to book a sequence of exams (Bone Scan, MRI, X-rays, Bone Marrow Aspiration and Marrow Biopsy, EKG and Echo cardiogram) for one day of tests and hopefully just one sedation.  She has also written the consult to have your Broviac removed in Medicine Hat, as we will need to leave your line in to use for blood tests, blood products, sedations etc, until we know you are fully recovered and stable. Until then, like when your youngest child is growing up we hope to experiencing a lot of lasts; last few nights in this bed, last time sleeping hooked up to IV's, some good bye's to great nurses and friends, last time peeing in disposable urinals, last pizza night, last time for Chemo drugs....  I would be lying if I said I was not a little sad to be saying goodbye to a number of these things.

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about how far we have come, 6 months ago I could not even imagine a last Chemo.  Now after all you have been through and once again having the energy to be a 3 year old (read constant worry and trouble) its hard to believe we are still doing Chemo.  Relative to a number of people we have met on this journey, you are so far one of the lucky ones.  I read a lot of blogs these days and spend plenty of sleepless nights worried others Journey's may not be as smooth as ours.  I know better than to assume we are in the clear, beyond the number of long term side effects of your Chemo and the chances of re-occurrence, I struggle to picture what normal life will be.

We are also embracing all the changes in our lives for the positive, the warm embrace of close friends, family, colleagues and complete strangers is infectious.  This Journey for our family taught us an invaluable lesson about people, a vision for the world we forever want to be a part of.  It can be hard to say no to so many great charities but one person can't say yes to them all.  I have a change perspective though for some great charities that have such a profound effect on many peoples lives.  Causes Such as Alberta Children's Hospital, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Ronald McDonald House and the Canadian Blood Bank just to name a few.  We have been blessed to meet a variety of people from all over Western Canada with a spectrum of ailments; but we all shared a common compassion for the inner strength of our children and the special people and facilities that took care of them.

Love,

Dad