Re-port (get it?)

Adam's blood counts returned to "normal" earlier this week and his fevers subsided, so he was discharged home from the hospital on Tuesday. We had one blissful day off, and wouldn't you know we spent it dodging the pouring rain! That was a short reprieve, however, and today was back to the grind.

It has been a long day, filled mostly with fasting and watching elevator doors, our increasingly familiar pre-surgery routine. Today he was in for his port to be fixed, have a lumbar puncture and restart chemotherapy with a drug called Methotrexate injected into his spinal fluid. We waited until 3:45 before he was called to surgery, and into the early evening before he came back. I marvel at how difficult it still is to send him in for surgery, even when we've done it almost weekly for nearly two months now. I do hate waiting, and this last few weeks has been a crash course in it...you would think it gets easier, but really it only gets slightly easier to mask how not easy it is! Waiting for doctors, nurses, surgeons, pharmacists, medicines, procedures, elevators--it all makes me a little bit crazy!! Mostly I find I am waiting for information and (hopefully good) news that comes slowly, in drips and drabs. Add in a sweet wee boy who doesn't understand why he can't eat, why he has to get another needle in his arm, why he has to go to that room again (theatre), why he has to take medicines that make him feel bad...it's tough to explain and even tougher to live.

Back to today: the surgeon could not fix the port, and ended up putting a new one into the space under Adam's left armpit. It's not the most convenient of sites, and Adam seems quite sore, but if it works that is all that we can ask. So far, so good. A spot of dinner, some pain meds, and an hour or two to make sure he's fine and the boy will come home again for another good night's sleep in his own bed. Tomorrow starts four days of IV infusions and then two days off.

California Oma arrived today, and was immediately plunged into the deep end, taking a taxi to the hospital, taking turns on the playground with one child, then another, then waiting for Adam to come back while I dashed around town to swim lessons, hang out washing, and come back. Whew. We are tired. If that's not a good way to deal with jet lag, I don't know what is!! We are surely grateful for the extra hands, and hopeful for what the next three months of her visit will bring.