Transfusion Tra-la-la {R4, Day 10}

When I arrived this afternoon, Sam was, I'm glad to say, overjoyed to see me.

I found out a few moments later that he was mostly excited about the macaroni and cheese that I shlepped from home. I'm cool with that.

Frankly, I'll take the love however I can get it. Especially if calories are involved.

playing Kinect today

One blood transfusion = a lot of Sam-energy

Sam was full of energy this afternoon, and he ate an unbelievable amount of food. Well, it was unbelievable for Day 10 of a hospital stay and it was unbelievable for hospital eating in general. He also drank massive amounts of water, and even the nurses were shocked by all that he consumed.

There were a few moments in the evening when he was feeling a little bit under the weather and I could tell that he was getting tired as bedtime approached because he fussed at his nurse when she came to do his vitals. But overall? Who is this kid!?

Reading in Spanish while sending surreptitious glances at his nurse to see if she was noticing

Let's be clear. I am still holding my breath. His counts just hit bottom (actually, there's a rock bottom still to go....) and the transfusion today is probably not the last one. He is now at the most risk, because infection is our biggest worry at this stage. The nurses today even warned me that this round is just....different. That blue chemo was a new one and it has different side effects than others we've had. Different reactions. We're actually just stepping into the woods...personally, I'm hoping for the Disney-movie kind of woods with friendly singing woodland animals as opposed to the Fire Swamp with ROUS's and quicksand and fire spurts....

This is Clover (who wouldn't sit still for a picture, go figure), a puppy-in-training who made Sam very happy. Achoo.

All that said, I just reveled in the day. Sam played Kinect and Jenga and chased the nurses and ate and drank and begged for one more chapter of Harry Potter and made a new friend (who pointed out to Sam that they don't go to the same school so they can't be friends and Sam said, "well, that doesn't mean we can't be friends for this moment.") and met a sweet therapy-puppy-in-training...and so it goes.

This weekend I led three different Shabbat services, and at each one, I asked people to offer names for the prayer for healing. As I looked around the room each time, it was as though each person in the room were looking back at me and holding Sam in their hearts. I could truly feel it in the room, it was palpable. Thank you for this - for each person who tells me that they think of Sam daily, for each of you who are out there thinking up projects and blessings and cookies and sending meals to my family and bringing gifts to our house and loving my children... Thank you for the prayers and the love, for the wholehearted way that you have truly continued to buoy us up and carry us along.

We are truly blessed, each and every day.