Dreading Friday

9/26/2011:  1:14 PM



hanging out in hospital on Friday night.
thank goodness for technology.



I was a bit surprised when Davis called to tell me that he won student council representative for his class. Yay!  His teacher and I stressed the importance of attending every early morning meeting so that his class has representation. We also thought it was a good idea that the little gal who won the second highest votes serve as a co-representative. She will stand in as the representative during the times that Davis can't be there. He's been on cloud 9 for the last couple of days. 

On Friday afternoon, I received a phone call that Davis's hemoglobin had dropped significantly. Healthy kids keep a hemoglobin over 15.  Leukemia kids need to be over 8.  Davis was at 7.3.  Davis and I headed down to St. Louis at 2:30 PM for Davis to receive a blood transfusion. The traffic was a nightmare. Not only was it 5:00 PM when we hit downtown, but there was a Cardinals game, so traffic was slower than slow. We checked into the ER and sat in an isolated area for the next several hours. We finally made it home at 2:20 AM.  The trip sure made for a long evening. 

The rest of the weekend went well. Davis felt great despite not having a ton of energy. 

On Sunday, volunteers from the Make-A-Wish Foundation came over to interview Davis and complete paperwork.  Davis has changed his mind a few times, but settled on his choices yesterday.  His first choice is to go to Hawaii and see Pearl Harbor. He just read the book, I Survived the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and Kyle is a big WWII nerd, so I think it was fresh on his brain.  The volunteer asked if he wanted to do anything else while he was there.  He replied, "Nah. Well, I would like to go to the beach and eat some unusual food."  I told him a helicopter ride might be fun, and the volunteer thought swimming with the dolphins might be neat, but he wasn't sold on either of those ideas.  His second choice was to go to Rome, Italy, and his third choice was to go to England. Make-A-Wish will actually send you abroad if your doctor approves and if there is a Make-A-Wish office near the location. Davis's wish won't be granted for awhile. He still has five to six months of intense chemo, and it usually takes 6 months to a year to fulfill a wish. Annakate is already worried because she doesn't like to fly. I calmed her fear by reminding her that Dramamine will take care of that.  I think Davis is excited. It gives him - and us - something to look forward to.



growing up way too fast . . .
trying to at least



Davis has a few new things to look forward to this week. He is going to take a painting class at Tarble Arts Center. Mrs. White, his art teacher, completed a scholarship application on his behalf and he got it.  He will also start pottery lessons on Saturday. He has wanted to do this forever. We had it lined up at the end of June, and then we had to cancel because he was in the hospital for so long. We have worked out the details and he will start on Saturday. He will attend his first student council meeting this week, and band sectionals started last week. He is playing percussion. Keeping him involved is a two-edged sword.  One one hand it keeps his mind off medicine and treatment and illness; but on the other hand, the increased activity wears him out. He doesn't have the energy that he used to, and you can really tell that although his mind wants to be there, his body doesn't cooperate.



paper? pencil? blood work?
hanging out in the
principal's office



We will head back to Children's on Friday.  Davis will receive some nasty chemo (makes it hard to walk, causes hand, foot, jaw pain) via his port, and he will receive the dreaded PEG shots (huge shots in the quad muscles). We fear that the PEG shots will be especially difficult because he has lost so much weight and muscle mass.  Today, his platelets are at 59, and the nurse said that he may need a platelet transfusion on Friday if they drop below 50. 

We are hoping for four good days of school this week.  Please pray that the kids in his classes remain healthy and strong, because Davis loves attending school.  It gives him a sense of normalcy. We ask that you continue to pray and remember in your thoughts all of the things we continue to need:  no long term or short term side effects, peace for taking medication, an appetite, continued remission and CURE.  On that note, Davis has eaten more this week than he has in the last month. I contribute that to God and to your thoughts and prayers. There isn't a real medical explanation, and we don't need one.

We will keep you posted.