Back to school/ The prosthetic: Part III

I have a minute to breathe--the girls are both napping and the boys are both at school. For once this week, I have a little time to myself.

It's been a busy week. On Monday, Steven and Andrew both went to school. Getting them off was an undertaking. Our little house was a big mess to start out with, and somehow all the little things they needed had dissapeared. We couldn't find the hat the matched the outfit, or the paperwork that went with his prescriptions, or the right sock, or the right shoe, or the thermometer, or, at the darkest moment--the van keys.

Steven wanted so badly to be early, but he was lucky to make it on time. Here is a picture. He may look like he's not that happy and it's because he isn't. He's not a fan of first-day-of-school pictures on a good day, but especially not when he is late.



He loved his first day of school. When we first arrived onto the school grounds, some friends from his class saw him coming and came running and shouting, "Steven! Steven!" I loved it, I'm sure he did too. One really nice thing about the program that Steven is in is that he will have pretty much the same kids in his class every year until middle school, so he didn't have to explain his sitution anew. Plus, the kids have been so nice and supportive to him.

On Tuesday, he went to school for an hour, and then I picked him up and we spent some time at Shriners. He got to try on his new leg and walk around with it (with crutches). It isn't finished yet, but I will post pictures anyway, so you can see the process.



We spent an hour and a half with the prosthetist, trying on the leg and making cuts and adjustments until he could put it on. After that, he walked around a bit and took it off to look for other potential problems that would be evident on his skin. He wasn't putting much weight on it, but he was walking around. He wanted to take it home so badly!



We took a lunch break at my brother's house, and went back for some physical therapy. We really liked the atmosphere there and the therapist assigned to Steven was really good. She gave us more exercises to work on and let him do some walking on the treadmill with his leg. He really loved it and kept wishing he could take the leg home. He should be able to have it after his next fitting, which will be September 1st.



So that is the news from here. He is back at school today. I was so worried about his ANC Monday and sending him to school, but when his labs from Monday afternoon came in, his ANC was 2600, plenty high for school. I'm so glad I sent him! It is hard to totally tell what his blood numbers are doing, but it looks like they are on the rise and he will be just fine for chemo, which should start either Friday or Monday.

Five rounds left! I can count them on one hand--if all goes well we could be done by the beginning of October. Seeing Steven with his leg, and talking with the prosthetist about breaking it in really kind of woke me up to how much work and uncertainty we still have ahead of us, but we will just do what we keep doing and take things one step at a time. (Pardon the pun :))