Allergic Reaction

After Jace's bout with an allergic reaction to the platelets, I considered for one brief moment, walking away from this blog.:) I wondered how I could post such a painful experience today, and keep doing it in the days to come. There we were on a little high about favorable cancer (How is that possible?? Students, did you catch the oxymoron?), and wham. His eyes started itching, his tongue started swelling, and before I knew it, my morale was knocked lower than it has been since last Saturday. Of course the nurses were immediately there medicating him to reverse the effects, and it eventually subsided. It's just so frustrating, because the reaction wasn't due to the Leukemia or the chemo. It was simply his body rejecting the donor's platelets. But, there is nothing like seeing your child cry and thrash and beg for relief. It also prolonged the dreaded hunger he felt, and we've never seen him more mad. For all of you who know the Grovers and the Leathams, picture this: A Grover at his maddest-- then a Leatham at his maddest. Combine the two and you will see how Jace was this afternoon. He instantly had hives covering his body, and although I handled it well at the time, when they took him for the LP and Biopsy, I broke down again.

Matt is helping me see, now while I'm writing that maybe the reason today was so hard on me was because I didn't know how to help Jace. Luckily, Matt reacted well once again, and Jace knew his dad understood that sometimes fighting back just helps. Jace wasn't sad. He wasn't scared; he was just plain ticked.

Although the allergic reaction set us back a few hours for the Lumbar Puncture and Bone Marrow Biopsy, they still accomplished these tasks this afternoon, and felt like everything else was looking ok. Although his immune system is also as low as it has been at 200 (they prefer it to be a thousand), we don't have to return to Salt Lake again until Monday.

Today, Jace "Took the bull by the horns," (and his mom was trampled!):) At 4 PM he finally received his reward of Mac & Cheese, Cream Soda, and a comfy ride home.