10 more days for this "part" of treatment

We are in a part of treatment called Inter-maintenance 1. In just 10 short days we will finish this part of his treatment and enter a phase called Delayed intensification. Not a part of treatment we are looking forward to. We have been so blessed to be able to be somewhat normal and do things that kids should get to do. Not all kids with Cancer are able to do so.

 

I wanted to get a picture of him with his Port Accessed. To show him later what it looked like. This is his "I am going to kick Cancer's butt" face!

 Here are some pictures we took up the canyon; Monday after treatment. He enjoyed going for a ride in Daddy's truck and watching the river.

 

Before we were able to go up the Canyon Carson and I made the journey to PCMC. We had to take Mickey Mouse along with us. He is driving me nuts with Mickey Mouse. He watches it at least a few times a day if not all day(on bad days). It makes him happy so I deal.

We were scheduled to go through the OR so we had to be checked in with the OR at 8am. Carson knows when we go there he can play with the cars. While we waited Carson found a friend who had down syndrome and a trachea tube. While his mom was suctioning out his tube Carson reached his hand out and told him "it okay". The little boy smiled at him, and they held hands and play together. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. We had to leave soon after and head up to get "treatment". They then changed our plan and had us go through the RTU; much easier for Carson to go to the RTU since I am able to take him to the room and hold him while he falls asleep. I am also able to go back to him much quicker than if we were in the OR. But since we we were moved to the RTU it meant we had go back up stairs for treatment; Carson was no happy about this at all. But soon calmed down and fell asleep while he got his chemo. I also talked to the doctors about using essential oils to help Carson with his leg pains. After talking to a few doctors, we came to the agreement that we will not use essential oils to help. Some studies say that it could make the chemo not as effective, and that is not a gamble we are willing to take. So we increased his doses of pain medications, and will continue to use a vibrating chair mat and heating pad to help manage his pain. We are 2 days out of treatment, so far he has not been in too much pain. He acts silly after getting a "full" dose of pain medication, but I would much rather have a silly child than a child in pain.

 

We continue to receive so much support from family and friends. We are more than thankful for all the support. 

Wrapping up summer...

We have been blesses Carson's blood counts have been good. Well enough we could live a some what "normal" life for a little while. This is not always the case with kids who have ALL so we are thanking our lucky stars and very grateful for it.

One of my favorite pictures is the 2 of them snuggling together. It doesn't happen often so when I does I run for a camera!

A dear friend of mine that had a baby at the same time I had Carson went OUT of her way to send us a very special package with some very special handmade pictures from Noah, Brady, and Michael. It brought tears to my eyes when we got it! The boys loved opening it.

We had treatment on Friday. Carson picked out a hat. It had puppies on it, but also said Princess. I laughed and let him wear it. He also got a pig so then the hate became the pigs blanket. Thank goodness because I wasn't sure what we would tell daddy when we got home. :)

The kid is a trooper. He helps the nurses with flushing his line, and always sits up like a big boy to get his port accessed. He knows to take his shoes off when we walk in, and is always eager to let them give his arm a hug, even telling the nurses what arm they can use that day! We are lucky that the nurses understand this is hard for the kids, and do as much as they can to make it as easy as possible for the kids!

We are also lucky that American Fork IV center is so kind to let us go there to get Carson's blood drawn each week. We have to know his counts in order to know #1 how much treatment he can have #2 what is "safe" for us to do for that week. The nurses there are super kind to both boys and always have treats for them! They welcome both boys.

One of Carson's favorite things to do is to go ride the Alpine slide. He loves it! Grandma Georgiana has been nice to take us to ride the slide 3 times and counting(she promised to go again)

Carson gets Angel mail. It is an amazing program where 2 people send a letter/package each week. It gives Carson something to look forward to, and he loves to get mail! The ladies that have Carson's name are super nice and send a treat each time they send a package!

Since Carson's counts were so good, my mom and I were able to take him to Salt Lake City and stay in a hotel and be on "vacation". Carson loves vacation just like his mom!

We made it to Hogle Zoo, Clark Planetarium, Lion House Pantry for some great food, and the Olympic park to ride a different Alpine slide. He enjoyed it! We have 20 more days of this "easier" course of treatment, then it is on to a "hard" part. I am not looking forward to the "hard" part, as I am sure he is not either. Other than Leg pains, he is acting and playing like normal! THANK GOODNESS.