I am not sure where to start the post today: the fun stuff or the frustrating stuff. I will start with the frustrating and end on a happy note. The weekend turned out awesome and I will get to that in a moment. I am now at the ER with Nick because he spiked a fever this afternoon. He was warm most of the night but no fever. Greg brought him to clinic this morning and he was fine. His counts are pretty good to. He mentioned to them about just giving him an antibiotic because of last night and they said no, no fever. I brought him to the ER tonight. As usual his port is not accessed yet. The nurses spent about 35 minutes talking about the process (which should have alerted me to start with) and then proceded to try and access. The needle was not pushed in enough at all, not sure what she was thinking and Nick started crying. The whole process sucks. I am now waiting for a 5th floor nurse to come down and access him. I guess it will be a long night because we usually average at least 5 hrs after the port is accessed. I am sorry to complain and I think I should be greatful this is only the frustrating part of the whole process. I know we will not be spending the night. I am pretty sure he will get an antibiotic and be released.
Updated: Port accessed by 5th floor nurse, first try and she did great.
Onto the fun stuff: The weekend was a blast. As I mentioned before the boys had so much fun on the beach and jumping off the boardwalk. They told everyone at the party on Sat. We spend the weekend (yes, the older boys & Greg camped out) at The Holmes House. Thank you so much for having us. The kids swam in the pool and another milestone for Nick: he actually swam on his own in the deep end. There are definitely times lately I have said to myself: 'This kid has cancer?' It was great to see our friends and I know there were amazed to see how well Nick is doing. They had lots of questions for us in general and even some of the kids asked questions. The people who know me understand that I am not afraid to talk about Nick, the whole process and the fears we will always have. He is a strong little boy. Colby was fantastic this weekend and is enjoying his summer. He is excited to tent it again. My older sister Christa and her kids are up for the next 2 weeks so we are looking forward to the time we get to spend with them.
Nick is an amazing 6 year old fighting T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). He was diagnosed at 4 years old on Oct. 15, 2008 and here is the story of his courageous battle. This day changed our lives forever. Nick seemed very healthy at the time and the only signs we noticed were swollen lymph nodes on his neck. At first, we thought it could be a virus, but after 2 rounds of blood tests, the doctors confirmed our worst fear, cancer. This site is to show how strong our little boy is.
Update:
Nicholas finished treatment on 11/18/2010. He will continue to go for blood work for the next 3 years. He is still in remission.