I am happy to report that Steven has held the nausea at bay very well this round. He is eating like a champ and hopefully on a weight gain trajectory that will put him at a safer weight. His diet is atrocious, but calories are the priority and so we cheer about donuts and bacon rather than carrots. Talk about a paradigm shift.

Physical therapy is another story, one that needs a whole post of its own. I will try to drum up the emotionaly energy soon to blog about that. Here is a teaser: THIS is hard.

This afternoon we took a walk to the patio where we were very lucky to meet a young man who is also fighting osterosarcoma named Eric. Steven hasn't met anyone currently in treatment for his same kind of cancer, so it was really nice to talk to him and find out his take on chemotherapy. He had his leg amputated and already has his prosthesis. Steven was really interested in that. In fact, after Eric explained that he doesn't need physical therapy and he has had a prosthetic since three weeks post-op, Steven wondered aloud if maybe he should have just done the straight amputation. (For Steven, this goes back to PT and how hard it is.)

Eric reminded me so much of my brother, Mark, who is 20 and on a mission. Leaving the hospital, I was overcome with emotion--missing my brother, hating cancer, exhaustion, uncertainty of the future and gratitude that Steven could meet another cancer hero to look up to. Maybe Eric and his determination to play basketball again will help inspire Steven as he goes through the therapy, which is turning out to be the hardest part of our cancer ordeal so far.