The Shannon Family

Nick is great this week. Clinic was uneventful on Monday, which is good. For some reason Nicholas does not like the blood pressure machine. Everytime the nurse wrapped it around his arm, he would scream. He was worked up right before they accessed his port and squirmed a bit, but the clinic nurses are wonderful and accessed it on the first try. His blood counts came back great and he will go to school tomorrow. Colby came with us on Monday and he was great. He tells us how he is scared when they access Nick's port, so he stayed in the playroom and played PS games. Nick had another shot, screamed and then was over it. We keep going forward and continue to hope he will not have an allergic reaction to these shots. (we have been told that around 40% of kids have an allergic reaction at any point). Just some background, the shot is a protein blocker and blocks the growth of leukemic cells. It is very effective and has increased the survival rate tremendously. There is always a backup plan if an allergic reaction happens, but we are trying to make it through this phase. We hope everyone enjoys the boys portrait. We did not plan on this, but I was taking Thomas for his 6 month pictures and the boys insisted on being part of it. I was a little freaked out, bringing Nick to Target and worrying about all the germs. I kept the purell in my hand the whole time and Greg whisked them away to the car as soon as we were finished. I am sure I looked like a basket case by the end.... the pictures show how awesome they are.