Never a Dull Moment

This week has been much better in many ways, but the element of surprise still lingers. William is tolerating this round of treatment much better than last time. The Neurontin is doing the trick with any neuropathic pain, his blood pressure is not dropping nearly as often as last time, and he managed to gain just enough weight to avoid the dreaded NG tube. He continues to spike fevers, but they have been manageable and have only delayed treatment once. He will finish the antibody infusion mid-morning and the IL-2 mid-afternoon and then he and Ryan will high-tail it outta there and should be home at some point Friday night. We maintain a healthy optimism tinged with very low expectations of Friday evening traffic out of the city.

William's weight, or lack of, continues to be an increasing concern. The threat of an NG tube still lingers, but we'll keep shoveling in the calories as best we can. Heavy cream in the Costco sized carton is our secret weapon! I think the miracle in this whole adventure will be if we can get William to gain weight and not give in to weight gaining ourselves.

Being home with the other boys has been almost surprisingly easy. It's been so good to be able to focus my attention on just them and let them have "fun mommy" back instead of "stressed out mommy." We've gone for bike rides, swam at the pool, played at the gym, watched movies, stayed up past bedtime, eaten ice cream, and just slowed down the pace of life. I've enjoyed not having to worry about William...has he swallowed his pills, eaten enough food, drank enough water, taken his temperature, washed hands, completed some schoolwork, gone to the doctor, changed his dressing, hep-locked his Broviac.... I am so grateful for the one-on-one moments I've been able to have with each of my boys to remind them that they are loved so much.

Tonight I was fortunate to spend some real one-on-one bonding time with Cameron...at Urgent Care. I wonder at what point they start to greet me on a first name basis? Cameron got his fingers smashed in a door at church, the heavy solid doors we don't have in our home. I haven't pieced together the accident scene yet, but his fingers were on the hinge side. It was a bloody mess and 3 fingers fell victim to the door. His pinky nail split across the center and the ring and middle finger got the nail root ripped out of the nail bed. The pinky should seal up and heal on it's own, but the other two were numbed while the doctor worked to push the nail back under the skin. It took a bit of work, but the doctor got them tucked back in. Cameron was an amazing trooper and watched the whole thing with interest. Near the end, and only because he couldn't feel the pushing and tugging, he even cheered the doctor on! "Oh, you almost got it that time! This one is harder than the other one." We all had a good laugh.

He'll be bandaged up for the next 5 days or so and can't use his hand at all for fear of popping the nails back out of the nail bed. (gag) He's excited for his splint, glad it's not a cast, happy it looks a bit like a cast, and anxious to have his first dressing change (because William gets dressing changes).

The following picture is graphic and may not be suitable for all audiences, particularly those who can't handle blood. Perhaps I should have more sensitivity, but I don't. So, enjoy!

The middle finger has the best visual of the exposed nail root.
See the white looking corner on the right?
I dare you to click on it for full resolution and then zoom!

All bandaged up!
Hey, Danny, bring back any memories?
Your finger has been requested as a show 'n tell next week!