Week of December 11, 2011

Sunday night we all went back down to Grand Rapids for SD's bone marrow draw and IV chemo Monday morning. We got the results of the bone marrow check a couple days later: there was no leukemia found! While this is a good result, it doesn't necessarily mean the cancer is in remission; it is likely still detectable in his spinal fluid at this point. SD normally has some apprehension when going to the hospital, but it seems to be growing; he is probably starting to realize that he will be seeing doctors a lot more often now.

We were blessed to receive a Christmas tree on Sunday just before we left; one of Stephen's coworkers gave us the tree and delivered it to our house. So far, the tree only has lights on it, but we're planning to put on the rest of the decorations shortly. Both of the children really like having the tree here!

Tuesday was the best day home so far. SD walked a lot (where "a lot" means more than any other day; probably 20 feet or so). He also asked several times to use the potty, and followed through! When we were in the hospital for a week, the doctors told us to just forget potty training for a while; SD would have so many new and different things happening to him (and affecting his body) that it's normal for even fully potty trained kids to regress and lose it.

SD also requested a book, which is big news! We have been concerned about how much he just wants to sit and watch movies (101 Dalmations is the current favorite). After reading the book, he asked for a "ride." He doesn't have a wagon, so we have given him rides in a cardboard box; both he and Emma used to love it! They would especially enjoy riding together. Unfortunately, SD was moody and did not want Emma to ride with him (the box was too small for both of them anyway). Emma was disappointed and cried; she doesn't understand why SD doesn't want her around anymore.

SD changed a bit after Tuesday. He has been in more pain and less active since then, but his appetite has grown. SD is normally a big eater, and the doctors warned us that his steroids would make him eat even more! Wednesday was the first day we saw that kick in; SD ate more than normal (which is already a lot). He only wants to eat a few things (cheese and ranch, and occasionally eggs and toast); we try to balance his diet out a bit, but he's very ornery about his food. One good thing is that he's feeling good enough to be ornery! It's not great fun, but it's better than him trying to lie perfectly still from the pain and fed through an IV. We got enough of that in the hospital.

Wednesday night SD asked for "Mommy" to put him to bed. Throughout most of this, he's been glued to "Daddy" - perhaps because Stephen took him into ER and rode down with him on the plane on that first day. It's nice to see him (very) slowly returning to normal! Every little step is celebrated. He also enjoyed looking at a snowglobe; those have always been fascinating to him.

Thursday afternoon SD started having some more pain in a particular area, to the point that we called the on-call doctor. It's hard to describe symptoms of a two-year-old; SD doesn't have the vocabulary to articulate well, so we do our best to interpret. The doctor said to just have him checked out in the morning, so we gave SD some Tylenol and put him to bed.

Friday morning Stephen was gone to a funeral, so Mandy took both the children with her to SD's regular pediatrician, Dr. Mulder. This was the first time Dr. Mulder had seen SD since before we were in the hospital. It turns out that the pain wasn't from an infection; SD had some tests done and they all came back clean. They can't say for sure what it was, but they're thinking it's a lower abdominal pain possibly caused by the steroids. Emma also got a quick checkup; she's had a cough for quite a while and we wanted to make sure it wasn't anything serious (it wasn't).