One year ago today...

...we left the hospital, finished with Steven's chemotherapy! I felt scared, and happy, and relieved. A year has gone by and I can't even imagine going back to that place. We have come so far. Steven is doing so well and, in many ways, I've put the cancer and the fear behind me. When I am feeling weak though, fear sometimes finds its way in. But mostly, I have moved on.
Of course, even without the cancer variable, there is still so much to worry about. Steven's walking and talking and hearing are the biggies. But even when those concerns weigh me down, I think about Steven who is very happy with life. He's not one bit worried about that kind of stuff. He excitedly told us at dinner how they've switched from soccer to football at recess. His leg doesn't hold him back from trying anything he can. It is hard to believe when I see him now that he took his first real steps without crutches only in March of this year. Since the day he left the hospital a year ago, he has had some hard times--a broken femur and another surgery. Now he has even taken his first running steps--it is amazing. He still has a long way to go. I've been wanting to share a short video we made for my family's film festival this year. Steven has made so much progress since he got his first prosthetic leg in September of last year until now. One thing that is hard to capture is his enthusiasm and perseverance. He is a great kid and we are so proud of all he's accomplished.

Portacath

Perhaps this is TMI, but I've had so many people ask me about Steven's port that I thought I'd put a picture up to satisfy the curiosity out there.



This is the way he gets his chemotherapy and all his blood draws. At the same time he was anesthetized for his biopsy, a surgeon placed it under his skin threaded the catheter into his artery. Before he ever gets poked, we put a cream on his skin at the port site to numb it, so as long as I remember to apply it, he doesn't feel anything. The cream needs to sit for about 30 minutes, and I admit that at first I was terrible about remembering so the home health nurse would show up and poke him without the port site being numb. He was a tough cookie and didn't complain, but once I remembered it and he decided it was so much nicer so now he faithfully reminds me about the cream.



In other news, he made counts today and so we are off to the hospital tomorrow afternoon for methotrexate. His red blood cell count was quite low, so they will check it again tomorrow and he will likely get a blood transfusion to bring the counts up. I never would have suspected it, though, he's been acting just fine. He did have a bit of a headache tonight.

If we get lucky, he'll get to come home Easter morning. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but cross your fingers anyway!

So far, so good for Steven. We got to the hospital Friday morning and didn't get the chemo started until 5:30 or so. I guess they need to hydrate him before they start, but I swear they could have started sooner. It felt like such a sad way to spend the beautiful day. We did finally figure out that there is a patio and so we spent some of the afternoon out there soaking in the sunshine. He ate a little breakfast this morning and so far he hasn't thrown up at all. If all goes well, we'll be home before bedtime on Sunday night.

Bored and loving it

Things are going well here at the hospital. Steven seems to be tolerating this chemo very well. He hasn't had nausea medication since last night--right before they started the infusion. I was unprepared for this. I didn't even bring his homework to the hospital because last time we were here for chemo he was really out of it and not feeling well. I won't lie--bored is AWESOME! So now we wait until there is practically no trace of methotrexate in his urine and then we can go. I still don't know how long it will be--maybe Sunday or Monday. I keep thinking that it must be all the prayers going out for him--thanks everyone!

My favorite quote from him today came from this afternoon. His uncle brought a game to play with him, but Steven was in the middle of an iPad game. It must have been intense because he said, "Uhh...I'm kind of in a tight place right now." Yep--you kind of are, buddy, but you've been in them before. It may take a while, but you'll get out of this one, too.