ER and Thanksgiving

Ahhh life.

At Jace's chemo appointment last week we learned his numbers were too low.  He endured his usual sick week from chemo, and instead of waiting a month to see our dear friends at Teton Oncology, Jace had to return seven days later for another CBC. As we left the doctor's office the second time, the doc joked..."Hopefully I don't hear from you tomorrow!" We all glanced a weary look at each other, knowing if we had to call the doc on Thanksgiving...well....that would just plain stink.

Sure enough. After a pretty great day of actually eating a Thanksgiving meal for the first time in three years, Jace started getting sick mid-afternoon. By evening his fever was too high, and we knew we were headed to the hospital. Just in case the doctor told us differently...we called him. Yep. Emergency Room. Pronto.

Seriously??  Jace was so looking forward to a night of cousins and fun, and instead we drove him away from the party to his least favorite place.  Jace was more than broken hearted and more than annoyed.

Luckily the ER administered the bag of IV antibiotics, and he wasn't admitted to stay, with the order to return the next day for more meds. By the time we were leaving, Jace had a crowd of friends coming to see him in the ER, and he left happy and feeling much better than when he arrived.

As a side note, after we left the hospital the next day (Friday), Jace reeeeally wanted to play raquetball and "work out."  He's working on his six pack.:) Our little rock star left the hospital, and was doing pull-ups at The Ridge a few hours later. Man! He's fiesty.

Another awesome detail is when the nurse (not our usual one) was going through her list of things she had to ask him:  "Does your family have a history of...What medicines do you take..." etc., she asked him if he smoked. We all giggled, and he quickly replied, "I only smoke my dad at basketball." 

This morning when a friend asked me how our Thanksgiving was, I hesitated ...But it only took a second to focus...and quickly I realized our Thanksgiving was awesome. Jace ate dinner. We were surrounded by a loving family. We had a good hospital to take him to for medicine, and nice people worked the holiday to care for our little Iron Man. 

Thank goodness for emergency rooms.:)

...and Many More

October was the birthday month at our house, and as we sang to Jace this year, I was careful to add three important words on the end of the song… "and many more.”

It’s no secret I’ve been somewhat missing in action from this blog for an entire season… I’ve missed posting about several chemo treatments, but I’m assuming you are as exhausted by the same details as we are. It’s hard enough to experience it over and over…and I’m finding that actually writing about it is getting harder.

A brief summary of our last three months is that Jace is tough…chemo stinks…and yes, he still has another year of treatments. He has really great days enjoying regular activities, and he still has really sick days associated with chemo.

I noticed tonight that as an “I Stand Up to Cancer” commercial showed on T.V., our family just became quiet. We didn’t really say anything to each other, because it’s nice sometimes to leave that conversation alone…but the commercial made us somber, and we quietly related to it in a very personal way.

On the up side, Hayden and Jace are both at a speed and agility training session right now. That means, BOTH my boys are running again, and THAT is a beautiful thing.:) Hayden is healing wonderfully from his elbow surgery; Jace is in between treatements, so he feels great. This year for Halloween Jace decided to use the Iron Man costume from 2009 that he never used. I sure liked seeing his strong body fill it out.  Every time I look at my Iron Man I think of how strong he is.... how much he's been through...and how cute he is. You can also be sure that recently when I sang "and many more" at the end of his birthday song....I only cried happy tears.:) 
Two YEARS of chemo down.
One to go.
We can do it.