" I have a hard time believing that boy is sick!"

We got to CMC around 8:00am and waited awhile before they took Grier back for the CT scan and Lumbar puncture. Grier was playing baseball with a stuffed animal in the waiting room when a lady stopped and said "I have a hard time believing that boy is sick!" I just smiled -- but she is so right, it is hard to believe how well he is doing. If he had hair he would fool everyone :)

Grier was so good during his procedures. His went in talking to everyone and then the medicine aka "magic milk" was given through his port and he went to sleep- We left and waited until about 12:00 and then he went to recovery. He woke up talking and ate a Popsicle and then we went home-- We were home by 1:15 and could not have asked for an easier day!!

Now we have to wait to hear about the scans and the bone marrow-- that is the hardest part!! Even though Grier looks and acts well we know that his case is tough so we wait to hear what the next step will be for him. If all goes as planned he will have labs drawn on Monday at home and then we will start round 5 by the end of next week.

Thanks for all the emails, and calls today-- Grier is lucky to have so many people cheering him on!!! Go Grier Go!!

Discharged before Breakfast

We are home and Grier still has very low counts. He WBC is recovering but very slowly-
We were discharged before breakfast!! That is a record for us :)
He will have another CT scan and bone marrow test next Friday the 27th-
Hopefully I will not update for awhile-- no news is good news :)

Fever is gone and we are just waiting for his counts to improve-

Grier is feeling really well-- he has not had a fever since Monday @ 3:30am and so far nothing has grown out of his blood cultures. We are waiting for his wbc ( white blood count) to shown a sign that it is improving-- He is keeping us all busy playing cards, baseball ( he seems to make anything a ball and hit it!, floam , movies etc. We hope to be home by the weekend-

fever!

Grier had the same pain that he had Friday all weekend-- After multiple calls checking on his urine culture they took on Friday--- it was negative- And since he did not have a fever we were told to wait it out.

Sunday afternoon he woke up from his nap and had a fever of 100.5-- We were told to wait until 101 and then call back. It ended up staying around 99 for the rest of the day-- UNTIL he woke up around 1:00am with a fever of 101-- We were admitted to CMC at 1:30am and did a chest x-ray @ 3:00am and they started the standard antibiotics-- At 3:30 his fever was at 102! So, We will spend a couple days at CMC to find out what if anything comes back on his blood cultures-

Friday the 13th!!

Today was one of "those" days!!! Grace left for VBS and I started calling the insurance company!!! Fun! Fun! I was getting ready to run a quick errand with Grier and Hayes and then the plans changed-- I changed Grier's diaper and saw a tiny bit of blood-- so I called the clinic and we went to cmc! I thought this was going to be a quick trip-- but to our dismay we were there from 11:20-3:40!! Another day spent at the clinic-- Grier did not have a UTI but he ended up needing platelets.. His counts are 100-- very low so it was good to check to see if he had an infection. We are home now and will continue to give him the medicine to increase his WBC. We are looking forward to the weekend and hope that it is uneventful!

Clinic today and tomorrow

We survived more than 24 hours of no power at home this weekend!!! We were all ready to pack up and go to my Mom's on Sunday night and then the power came back on!!! -- needless to say it made the weekend interesting-- Jeff and I gave IV meds by candlelight!!

Grier had a check up today. We will go back to the clinic tomorrow for a blood transfusion. We could have stayed today but would not have been done by 5-- I think going back tomorrow will be better-- Grier can only manage for about 2 hours in the clinic before he goes stir crazy! He made a necklace today with the Child Life Specialist. It is called a beads of courage necklace-- you get a bead that represents every procedure that you have had at the clinic or the hospital-- It is a really neat program and Grier had fun making it-- His necklace is full!!! It really puts all those procedures in perspective-- he has been through a lot -- I will try to post of a picture of him wearing the necklace soon:)

His counts are still dropping and he has not hit his low point yet. He is still on TPN ( nutrition by IV) and other meds- His has lots of energy and is really acting like a 3 year old boy!!

Round 4 is done!

We are home and everyone is feeling good-- even the dog! Everything is very normal at home right now-- Grace and Grier are having a Tea party... Hayes is at baseball and I am heating up dinner that Grace and Maggie made!!! ( It is Grace's favorite-- Spaghetti!!!-- Grace made meatballs so she is very proud!
Grier is feeling good-- as soon as he got home he was ready to play and has not stopped since we walked in the door!!

We are done with 4 cycles and will have another scan and bone marrow aspiration soon-- But for now we will continue to do meds at home and keep a close eye on his counts and hope is stays fever free!!!

Happy 4th of July

Grier started chemo on Tuesday and it has hit him hard this time. He is getting sick and sleeps a lot because of the anti-nausea medication- He has brief moments when he wants to play-- these usually happen when Hayes and Grace come to visit- Our nurse assistant helped us get a larger room today so that was a blessing-- we are so cramped in the smaller rooms-- Hayes' foot is fine and Tucker still does not feel good-- and my hives are still around--
We enjoyed the visitors today and Grier loved his candy treat!-- He has not eaten much but he did try every color of tootsie pops today!!
Happy July 4th--

Round 4 will start on Tuesday-

Clinic went well this morning. His counts were good and he gained weight!! He is over 30lbs-- not by much but it sounds really good! He ate a lot while we were on vacation-- a lot of good cooks were in the house so he enjoyed lots of guacamole and scrambled eggs and belgium waffles-- we were hoping all that eating would help him gain weight and it did!

We will be admitted tomorrow around 10 and they will start fluids for a few hours before they begin the chemo. This round will be the same as the first two-- 72 hours of continious chemo and then hopefully home by Friday afternoon--

That is all the update I have for now-- I have to finish doing laundry and pack for CMC-- On a side note ..our dog is not feeling well so Jeff is at the vet with Tucker, Hayes may need an x-ray of his foot-- he fell off the balance beam at the park!!-- and I am nursing Hives that I got at the beach-- looks great!!! My face looks red but not the sun-kissed kind everyone hopes for after a week at the beach- OH well-- there is never a dull moment at our house :)

We made it the entire week!!!

We are back from a great vacation in North Topsail with family and friends-- I did not blog all week because I knew it would jinx us and we would have to come home for some reason!! And except for giving alot of medicine while we were there, it was like Cancer never entered our lives for a week!

Grier had a fun time playing in the sand-- we wrapped his Hickman up with plastic to protect it and he was fine-- he could not swim in the pool but he did not seem to mind-

Hayes and Grace had a blast with all the visitors-- I think they enjoyed the nightly game of the "name" game the best-- that was an Anne and Susanne suggestion!!

Pictures were taken by Keely-- it was so windy I can not wait to see what they look like!!

Dinner was cooked almost every night-- and lots of fun memories were made -- Thanks for all the calls and emails checking in on us-- I think some of you were more nervous about the week than I was!

Grier goes to clinic on Monday and we will find out the plan for the week-- Round 4 is next and I think we are ready to get it over with-- I told Dr. L that we have spent every holiday at the hospital since March 26-- so I guess July 4th will be celebrated from the tower!