Leaky Bubble

I like being in that bubble I talked about...but spending seven-and-a-half hours at the hospital on Tuesday led to some leaks in the bubble.

Sam was a trooper. And a trouper.

I actually looked up the meanings of these words because I couldn't decide which spelling was correct. And I decided that he was both.

The OED gives these definitions of the colloquial uses:
trooper: A brave or stalwart person.
trouper: A reliable, uncomplaining person; a staunch supporter or colleague.

MOM! Stop taking my picture!

He was brave and stalwart, and he didn't complain very much....in fact, he tried to convince them to do his lumbar puncture and bone marrow aspirate while he was AWAKE. I know this was due to a little bit of anxiety about the waking up from anesthesia. But he was totally serious and spoke to the nurse practitioner calmly and frankly, adorably. He was charming and friendly. He had a few moments afterwards, as the nausea kicked in, when he was...um...less charming. But we'll go with it.

But the real leaks in the bubble came with the bone marrow biopsy results.

It isn't bad but it isn't so good either.

He's still not in remission, and he's still not ready for transplant. So they're going to add one more kind of chemo into this cocktail (daunorubicin but in a format to protect his heart, for those keeping score at home) and then...keep trying.

It's not the news we were hoping for. But they continue to feel that we're on the right track.

So we continue in our outpatient bubble. We spent two very long days in clinic getting chemo and now there's a little chemo-respite until Tuesday. (Even though we have a clinic checkup on Friday.)

Thank you for your calls and emails and texts and messages and posts. They all mean so much to us, and help us to know that we are not alone....we keep moving forward, one foot in front of the other. Leaks and all....