Here we go again

Everyone who sees us gives us a little sad smile.

Relapse SUCKS.
I think it might suck more than the initial diagnosis. I will have to consider which one has more suckitude. I will work on some higher-level vocabulary, too, okay?

There had been such joy, such exuberance, such hope for a future filled with normal counts.

Crashing down....and let me tell you, it landed the hardest on Sam. The kid is ticked off.


And yet...he was a super gem of a kid today.
He said please and thank you and he told me that maybe he could be the top of the lap-counting board this month. He hasn't exactly been happy to see anyone, but he hasn't been yelling either.

As I type this, he's remembered that Sponge Bob is usually on tv in the pre-bedtime hours.
He's drinking one of my famous hospital-hot-chocolate-concoctions. (It might contain a whole carton of whole milk.) The routines are the same. The hand-washing. The beeping IV pumps. The parent badge is slightly new and improved. Hey, it's the little things, right?

Today was a spinal tap, complete with a triple cocktail of intrathecal chemotherapy (that's drugs inserted directly into the spinal fluid to combat any stealthy leukemia that might be lurking in there). If you'll recall, Sam has had some trouble with the headache that often follows a spinal tap, so I repeated over and over our mantra to increase fluids and use a really small needle.

Along with the spinal tap, since they like to sandwich these things and put him under as few times as possible, was the insertion of his new central line, with its two lumens, or tubes. Totally tubular!!! (oy...laugh or cry, people, laugh or cry.)

His platelets were a little low, so they ordered a dose of those before they would do the procedures. Platelets help with blood clotting, so they're relatively useful when having surgery performed on you.

All of that led to a verrrrrrryyyyyyy long day spent waiting for the procedure, which finally got underway about 2:30pm, and went very well. So far so good on the headache.

The staff were so impressed with his fabulous head of hair, and how tall he has gotten in just the few short months since they saw him last.

nurse, pole, hospital bed...yep, we're back.

We're in an east-facing room. I like to think it's because we asked....

the view from here

So we're open for business. Full-body chemotherapy inserted through the brand-spanking-new central line begins tomorrow. There will be a new drug added into the ones Sam has had before. I'm sure that beautiful hair will be gone before we know it. Sigh. Hair grows back. (Speaking of hair, he was going to cut it anyway.)

Sam loved all the mail before....so let's try this again:
Sam Sommer, E584
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
P.O. Box 1997
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201-1997

It totally brought him so much light each time the mail delivery came, so thank you.
Michael and I both felt such love over the last few days -- to see the Superman pics on Facebook totally filled us up with the blessing of our community of family and friends far and wide. Thank you.

P.S. New chapter, new blog header....if you're reading in an email click over to check it out! #whatmamabloggersdo