...tales from our journey through valleys, atop peaks, and everywhere in between - all the while abiding in the shadow of the Most High.
We are purposed to have great positive attitudes, speak life at all times, find joy in the blessing of every moment, and keep living our dreams each day.
Hope you have fun with us!
This week's treatment with both drugs went fabulously well...with a few minor hurdles when it came to accessing Samuel's port and removing his bandages. Apparently, he's still feeling the sting of bad ER experience so he is not quite as accommodating for the clinic nurses; but, they are wonderful wonderful wonderful, and we are making it through with baby steps :)
and of course, skittles and suckers help ;)
SOUR skittles, that is! lol
...Car racing video games...
Suckers and puzzles, good combo
Orange slices while getting Zofram push
Trin in her own chair again...chowin' on animal cookies
Since we've been snowed it, we are letting our creative juices run wild and having lots of fun "art" days. Seems much of the time Samuel + Trinity are at their happiest when they're drawing, cutting, and gluing. Fortunately, they're pretty good at clean-up time, too ;)
Speaking of creative, with a slight decrease in Samuel's appetite every once in a while, we've gotten quite creative in food preparation to make even our standard menu items a little more, uhh, "inviting". For example, for dinner, I convinced them that whole wheat pasta with olive oil + sugar snap peas was a seriously indulgent treat by smothering it in shredded white cheeses (asadero, quesadilla + manchego). And, for pancakes, we transformed our usual multi-grain organic pancakes (with 4 extra eggs, vanilla protein powder + organic whole milk) into "pancake cookies" by adding M&M's + making them cookie-sized! HUGE hit! Who knew :)
Another day of outpatient fun - and yet another winter snow storm moving through! We almost got snowed in to Children's this week, but we made it home safe + sound - just in time to get snowed in for real over the next few days (Level 2!).
The three of us had a silly good time Monday at the clinic. Mom bopped around between helping Trinity with her puzzles + drawing and giving Samuel tips on video game play (hurry home, Dad, your expertise is in great demand! lol).
During lab work + infusion, Trinity amused herself in her very own treatment chair where she kicked back, threw her feet up, and chowed down on her little red heart full of Skittles (thank you, Mawmaw!). The sugar sugar sugar snacks really seemed to help get us through our first treatment post-ER trauma (the nurses did an absolutely AMAZING job rebuilding trust with Samuel + reducing the long-term traumatic effects.)
Oh, and more great news -- I also discovered that IF we ever have to be in the ER again, we can always politely insist no one touches him until they call down a nurse from the Hematology/Oncology Unit to handle all the procedures! Needless to say, we are VERY happy about that :)
So, praise God, all is absolutely well with Samuel; we did, however, get to experience our first low grade fever this past week, which of course means something completely different when you're going through chemotherapy. Around midnight Tuesday, Samuel's temperature reached above 101.0 so after speaking with the hematologist on call at Children's (standard procedure is calling in for any fever), we were advised to come down to the ER immediately for testing + treatment.
Just in case of a bacterial infection, they automatically administer IV antibiotics w/ most chemo patients if they ever get a fever that reads over 101. Unfortunately, we also had a "first" time struggle getting his port accessed (ie., lots of screaming, crying, and restraining because the nurses were having a difficult time getting the needle to properly access his blood...ie., NOT fun at 2 am - nor any time for that matter).
I must say that Trinity is officially THE coolest little person in the world because she took it like a champ standing there watching all this go down, while Mom couldn't do much in the way of comforting her since I was charged with control of Samuel's flailing arms. Only lasted a few minutes, then all settled, but I'm sure the brief adrenaline rush helped keep us all alert despite the wee morning hours.
Very fortunately, on the other hand, his blood work looked great (considering treatment effects), and he was responding well to the antibiotics + tylenol, so they finally let us come home for monitoring instead of having to be admitted to isolation for 48 hours (thank GOD, again!).
The babies really do handle all of it so well - we had a ridiculous blast getting out after midnight + heading for a fun ride downtown to see all the big, tall buildings + lights! Thankfully, Mawmaw (Daddy's mom) was able to drive up to Cbus around 4 to help me out w/ the kids (what a blessing!). And of course we hit up the ER nurses for popsicles at 430 in the morning, which is ALWAYS a good time! We really do have way too much fun, I'm sure of it ;)
Isn't it illegal to pout with popsicle lips? ;)
Fever broke Wednesday during the night, and he's been 100% ever since (yet again, thank GOD!). He is such a remarkable little dude. Man, I absolutely love him. And they just make the silliest coolest team ever...talk about entertaining! We're beyond blessed they have each other, and that they take such good care of one another, too. xo
Life keeps improving for the dynamic duo as packages arrive, and I cannot even begin to tell you how GIDDY they get when boxes show up HAHA! They just know they're getting presents :) Nancy Federle (FRG leader + awesome girlfriend!) sent two ginormous boxes stuffed with toys + treats for the two kids...in other words, Christmas in February for real! Uncle John + Aunt Kay (Nierlich) sent an absolutely fabulous addition to the ever-expanding "GeoTown" that is very steadily taking over the entire house! It was the first airplane/pilot set, and they have been thrilled to add it to their mix. Uncle Michael + Aunt Zara have piqued our anticipation about another super special treat soon to arrive, and I have been diligent in building the excitement, so they're definitely ready for that, too :)
This is just some of the loot sent to the kids from the INCREDIBLY wonderful FRG leader (you're the best, Nancy!) on behalf of Operation Homefront + support of military families
so happy :)
the fireman hat is a crowd favorite :)
oh yeah, sheriff's back in town...dirty rascally varmints beware
Early this morning was our first little puking episode - post treatment yesterday with both vincristine + actinomycin (which is a bit harder on the stomach). Samuel was given an IV drip of Zofram (anti-nausea) before treatment; but it unfortunately wore out around 5:30 am! After a bit of vomitting, he went back to bed a few minutes, then one more little round of it around 6:00 am. We gave him a small dose of Zofram at home and within 30 minutes it was all I could do to keep him calm and quiet until Nonna + Trinity woke up :)
Hanging w/ Nonna at Children's
Video games while waiting :)
"All Natural" Cheese Puffs...isn't that a contradiction in terms? ;)
The saying here goes, "Any calorie is a good calorie."
Kicked back watching cartoons while the Zofram drips...
Administering his drugs... yes, he's a trained professional ;)
Needless to say, he recovered wonderfully throughout the day, and ended up eating crackers, grilled cheese sandwich, oatmeal, and drinking LOTS of sports drink + 7up - all without any further doses of medication (yay!). Fully expect to be back to 100% by tomorrow after a good night's rest, for all of us ;)
Very very sadly to say, Nonna has flown the coop for now, and we are temporarily back to trio status. So very blessed that we all enjoy hanging out together, or this could've gotten real ugly - haha!
