Always Learning Flexibility

This week has been full of fun and family and togetherness. I'd like to say it was all blissful, but there was plenty of crankiness along with the laughter. I suppose we wouldn't be normal if that wasn't the case.

We've just said our goodbyes to Uncle Mitch and Aunt Hilary. We're so grateful for their help around the house, yard, and with the boys. We loved having them here and wish New York wasn't so far away. We had a great time at the baseball game, went to the drive-in movies, ate plenty of ice cream, hit In 'N Out, played Wii, cheered at soccer games, and collasped with exhaustion each night (at least the adults did)!

William has been feeling great. His blood counts continue to remain good enough for surgery. When the social worker asked William on Thursday how he felt about surgery, he answered, "Kinda good and kinda sad. "

SS: "Why is that?"

W: "Good because I'll be getting rid of the tumor. Sad because I'll be losing one of my kidneys and I'll miss it since I've had it all my life!"

We also learned the results of his bone marrow biopsy. One leg is completely clean of cancer cells, but the other has a tiny, tiny amount of cells still hanging out in the marrow. I questioned how that may or may not have affected his stem cell harvest since we obviously don't want infected stem cells transplanted. They explained that cancer cells tend to attach themselves to the marrow and don't mobilize in the blood with the stem cells. I guess I need to do more research about the difference between marrow and stem cells because we've been told they're fairly synonymous. And it's sometimes frustrating when we've asked that question multiple times and this is the first time we've heard this explanation.

We've been putting into place all necessary arrangements for our family while William will be in the hospital. We know that 5-7 days after surgery, assuming his pain is under control, his blood counts remain good, and all appropriate body functions have kicked back in to good working order, his 6th round of chem will begin. Yesterday, we were reminded (yet again) how flexible we must be in this process. We received a call from the surgeon's office to inform us that the surgeon is now on an extended medical leave. Instead, two of his partners will be performing the surgery and will be able to do it during the previously designated time slot, but they want William admitted to the hospital for testing on Tuesday morning instead of Wednesday morning. We had planned to have outpatient lab work on Tuesday and admittance on Wednesday. Now we have an additional 24 hours in the hospital. Ugh.

I've had mixed feelings about getting our surgeon changed because we felt Dr. G was really good, but we obviously don't want him performing surgery if he has medical needs of his own that could affect his ability. I think we've felt adequate peace that the surgery will go as planned, and trust that our oncologists associate with good pediatric surgeons and that Dr. G has very capable partners, but we'll always feel anxiety with any surgery. Who wouldn't? We also have strong faith that God is aware of our prayers, desires, and needs.