Help is on the Way

The last few months have been incredibily hard. We crossed over from "one bad year of chemo" into "who knows how long". A doctor asked me recently how many rounds of chemo he has had and I couldn't remember so I went back and counted. We're at 28 rounds so far.

We realized we need the kind of help only family can provide (where you can call them 24/7 and ask for anything). So, I asked my company if we could move ourselves to Texas to live near family and do my current role from there. They said yes!!!

We are so relieved and excited. It will be so nice to have that type of support and encouragement. I think it will give us a little bit of breathing room which we just don't have right now. We'll likely be moving sometime towards the end of December.

It's funny though, while we're relieved we're also sad to leave California and the friends who have been supporting us so far through this journey. The good news for me is I'll be traveling back at least monthly so will still get to keep in touch.

I told Sydney's favorite teacher at school today, and she started tearing up. She said "I'm going to miss her so much! But I totally understand why you need to do this for your family".

We do need this for our family and feel very fortunate we get to move and get our family the support we need.

Last night was yet another reminder of how much we need that support. Jenson spiked a fever and once again, we headed to the ER for the same protocol. Sydney has a virus which also gave her a fever day 3, but with Jenson it's a different story. They have to check his blood counts and make sure they aren't so low that he would need to be admitted. They have to check to make sure he doesn't have a secondary infection with his port. They have to get the fever under control.

We also had to get an x-ray. They took us into the x-ray room with a tiny little table there. You could see the arm and leg straps, and I knew what was coming. We were going to have to strap my little boy's arms and legs down so we could get a chest x-ray to make sure he wasn't getting pneumonia. It was awful trying to comfort him as he got strapped down and listening to him scream while we went behind the x-ray waiting area. Doug said, "this is nothing compared to the ones your dad and I had to do a couple weeks ago". Boy, am I thankful I didn't experience that one, as this one was crushing enough.

Overall, my sweet little boy was so patient with all the tests. He was joking around with one of the nurses. She said "Are you ok?" and he said "I good to go" and started laughing. "Good to go"... so cute from my little guy who just turned 2 and was hot as an electric blanket from his fever. Then each time a nurse or doctor would leave the room he would wave and go "Bye!". Even in the midst of stress and chaos, he can have a great sense of humor, be good to others, and enjoy life. He's so inspirational.

Doug and I on the other hand are trying not to worry as today goes on and stay out of the "rocking chair". If he has a fever later tonight, we have to head back to the ER again.

So for now, I'm chosing to celebrate the blessing of knowing "help is on the way" vs spending time in the "rocking chair".

Kristin