Round 2, Days 3 & 4 - Rock the Socks

Every superhero has a gimmick, right?

Sam has his socks-and-crocs combo. Yep...you see it right here, people.... Combined with his awesome "stink-face" and adorable bald head, he's rockin' it.

Sam: "Seriously, mom? Are you taking a picture of me!? Let's go."

Zeyde (remember, he has a (k)new knee) got cleared to walk with just his cane, so he came to see Sam in the lobby of the hospital (secret sneaky mama trick to get Sam to walk downstairs) and they compared notes about hospital experiences. Sam was fascinated by his scar and how his knee was actually "replaced" (ew).

Sam is at this moment discussing knee replacement like a future M.D.

Sitting still wasn't in the cards, though, so he zipped off for a quick game of catch with Uncle Josh.

Rockin' the socks, right?

The chemo treatments are mostly run in the afternoon (there's a veerrry early morning (like 3am) run as well but we pretend to be asleep try to sleep through that one), so far Skinny the Pole is mostly off the case from morning until right after lunch. That has made it easier for Sam to get around, do stuff, enjoy himself, and then settle in for an afternoon rest. He still hates to travel with the pole, and the chemo definitely makes him nauseous and sometimes a little headachey, also itchy. We're not oblivious to the effects, but we're trying to pretend they don't exist...I think we're in the honeymoon phase of our hospital stay! (And I think it is progressively getting less and less fun to be in the hospital.)

Uncle Josh reported that our friends at ThinkGeek sent Sam a great package which include a small stuffed stem cell and bad breath germ. Who knew that these small gifts would give Sam so much to talk about! According to Josh: "He has proceeded to ask his nurses a dissertation of questions about where a stem cell lives: are they in your stomach? Can they really make anything?" I'm sensing, finally, quite a bit of interest in the biology and medicine after the last couple of days. My son, the doctor? A mama can hope, right? Maybe he will be the one to cure childhood leukemia once and for all....

Sam continues to flirt with the nurses (and try to make nurse L jealous...) and even when he's feeling sick to his stomach he continues to ask for "inappropriate" movies. Right now, Michael and I are looking through all of our DVDs and trying to decide which ones are most appropriately inappropriate for him! All suggestions welcome!

If you're keeping track - he did 7 more laps, making his lap total now 20. (I made him do the math over FaceTime.) Since we didn't quite make 100 on our first day out, we're going to do a cumulative accounting. 

Stay tuned for an update from Michael tomorrow, since he's headed up there to switch places with Uncle Josh. We are so amazingly blessed to have Josh in our hospital rotation. Sam loves him, they get along so well, and we are so lucky to have him in our lives!