A Few More Firsts

10/3/2011:  12:11 PM

davis entertained us by

clipping on annakate's

fake hair and singing his
version of willow's,
"whip my hair".

Unbeknownst to me, a friend of mine at work organized a get-together with many of my work friends. I thought I was meeting two for supper. There ended up being eight of us.  It was incredible to sit with my friends and talk about things outside of cancer. It brought me such peace to know that school life is clicking along without me, but it hasn't changed too much.  I think that one of my fears is that so much will change at school (my work) that I will be starting all over again next year. I feel like sometimes I am losing my point of reference. Anyway, it was a perfect evening at Pagliai's. We plan on doing it again. Thanks go out to my friend, Lisa Taylor, for organizing and not taking no for an answer and to the gals who came.  It meant a great deal to me. 

platelet
transfusion

Friday came and went. Thank goodness.  Davis met with his psychologist, and they worked on breathing techniques.  Davis hung out in the clinic for the rest of the day.  He received his first platelet transfusion. Platelets look like Tang!  I guess we just thought since they were in blood, they were red.  Not the case. After he received his platelets, he received his Peg shots and Vincristine.  He did an amazing job.  He cried during the shots, but I am pretty sure that the toughest grown man would have cried too.  He said the shots hurt more than usual, and the nurse told him that the dose had increased.  Because of weight and muscle loss, his legs are smaller as well.  After the chemo, he received a blood (hemoglobin) transfusion, and we were on our way home by late afternoon.

Kyle came up with this idea to have a present on hand to reward Davis for his hard day. I wrapped up a couple of things he had asked for, and we took it with us to St. Louis.  He was so amazingly brave and was tickled to open up his gift. It was nothing too exciting, but the Webkins beaver, now named Pegs, and the bakugon were nice distractions for the day. I assumed that we were done with the Pegs for awhile, but that is not the case. Starting in two weeks, Davis will receive increased doses of Pegs shots every ten days or so for 41 days.  Looks like I will have to start shopping for more rewards. 

junk food galore. oh, and pegs,
the beaver

Davis's appetite has greatly improved.  He actually gained two pounds! He now weighs 61 pounds, a far cry from where a healthy ten-year-old should be. He is drawn to junk food. And although the junk meets his high calorie diet and the sweets help with his bouts of hypoglycemia, I don't want him to develop poor eating habits. Davis and I agreed to better eating starting today.  We will see how that goes.

Davis went to his first pottery class.  He LOVED it. His teacher is extremely nice and knowledgeable and identifies with kids very well.  Davis's first lesson was to make a turtle.  His homework is to create a dog. He plans on working on that tonight.  I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of the turtle.  I will be sure to get one after it is fired and glazed.  Davis is very much into animals, so starting out with animal sculpting makes sense. When Davis becomes more experienced, he will move to a wheel.  I jokingly told him that I better get a mug or a bowl for Christmas. 

I am so grateful that so many people are willing to go the extra mile or be inconvenienced by Davis's special needs. It is terribly difficult for a child who has cancer to feel "normal". With the help of these teachers, students in his class, his friends and their parents among others, Davis leads a very "normal" life.

This weekend was pretty fantastic overall. The kids managed to play a great deal of Wii, and we had a movie night/slumber party as is our family tradition. Davis experienced virtually no side effects until Sunday evening. Davis has developed mouth sores (side effect of the chemo). Basically, they are canker sores on the sides of his mouth and on his tongue. Many people get them while on chemo. Davis has been so blessed to have not had them up to this point, and I pray that we are able to keep them under control or that they go away so the mouth pain doesn't affect his appetite.

Davis has a big day on Thursday. His class will be going to Bloomington to the Challenger Space Center. He received the OK from the oncologist on Friday, and he even gets to ride the bus! I know that doesn't sound exciting to most, but Davis has been banned from bus riding because of the amount of germs on one. I find humor in that most kids could care less about riding a bus, and Davis would feel accomplished if he just hopped on a bus for a spin. Perspective, I guess. I am going to remember this experience, and the next time I hear one of my students complain about riding a bus, I will tell them that they should be thrilled to ride the bus. :)  Not sure if it will work. Anyway, I do have to clean the area where Davis will be sitting, and I might as well wipe down the whole bus in an effort to keep all of the kids healthy, but that is no big deal. I can clean and sterilize things in my sleep. The field trip should be a blast. The kids have done a great deal of learning to prepare themselves for this day. Can't wait.

 

Kyle is harvesting acre by acre (as if there was another way). On Friday evening as we were pulling into town on our way home from St. Louis, I noticed a parked combine and three men - three very familiar men - staring into the head. It is never a good sign to see men staring at a parked combine. Needless to say, Kyle picked up an old guy-wire in his bean head. No real worries. It was fixed a day later. Accidents like this happen all of the time; you just don't want them to.

Music has always been a refuge to me. I thought I would share some of the songs that comfort me on this journey. The first one is about breast cancer (October is breast cancer awareness month), but the chorus is so true about all those who love someone who has cancer.  I have attached the video if you are interested in checking it out.

Another song I adore is by a band called Rascal Flatts. The very first time I heard this song was when one of  my students handed me her Ipod and insisted that I listened to it. Even though I immediately loved it then, the lyrics mean so much more to me now. Click on the link to view:

http://www.cmt.com/videos/rascal-flatts/599179/i-wont-let-go-cmt-invitation-onl.jhtml?artist=710215



love this picture. love these guys more.



We continue to get along surprisingly well.  We know that Davis is doing so well because of God's goodness and your continued support and prayers. We couldn't have asked for better family, friends, or communities. We pray for Davis to overcome these mouth sores. He has greatly improved in taking his medications without a fight, but some days prove to be harder than others. We are so thankful that he has energy and appetite, and we pray that those continue.  We also pray for the health of his classmates. Wouldn't it be quite a testimony if the children in Mrs. Meyer's and Miss. Goodchild's classes escape major sicknesses all year? Well, I am believing for it. We continue to pray against long term and short term side effects as well as healing and CURE.    

Looking forward to a great week. I will be sure to take pictures at the Challenger Space Center.

We will keep you posted.

P.S. Miss. Franklin, please send me your email address to abcoffey77@gmail.com, and I will be in touch.  Thanks!!