Day & Night out

Kevin and I enjoyed sleeping in today until 9:30 a.m. This puts my 2 night sleep total over 16 hours. I can't state enough how much my body needed to recover from several sub 4 hour nights in a row. Enough about me though. Kevin woke up a tiny bit of nausea, but not to the point of getting ill. He just didn't want to eat any breakfast. I've figured out that the mornings his stomach is the weekest, because the 24 hour redimed of Andostentron is wearing off. So basically the first thing we do when we wake up is hook up his redimed nauseau medicine (though his hickman), then hook up his vancomycen, which is the antibiotic he's finishing up from the infection from over a week ago. Next we unhook his TPN. This process takes us about 90 minutes, as he has two lines in his hickman. So anyway, after this process this morning, and another hour or so of cartoons Kevin and I decided to make the most of the day. This weekend there were no hospital apointments so other then the daily medical duties, it was completely free of time constraints. Kevin was feeling quite well once his andostentron kicked in, and we made the most of it. We met Rachel and Scotty (Mike stayed with Jake and picked up his parents from the airport) at Jillians. Jillians is the game place and restaurant, much like a Gameworks or Dave & Busters. The boys had a great time. Kevin had tons of energy and played game after game at a frenetic pace. He ate a decent portion of his lunch even. The boys earned their share of tickets and racked up the prizes. Scotty, who very much looks up to Kevin decided he wanted to get whatever Kevin picked out for his half of the prizes. Kevin couldn't decide on his second prize, and after going back and forth for a bit, the young man behind the prize desk asked if Kevin was a st. Jude patient, then proceded to give him both prizes so he didn't have to decide. Kevin was very grateful. In the evening Kevin, Rachel, Mike, Scotty, Jake and Mikes parents took the trolly to Beal Street. I met them and Mike's parents treated us to a really nice dinner at Rendezvous in downtown Memphis. The smell of barbque was not very inspiring for Kevin's appetite, but he nibbled on a ham and cheese sandwhich (I got the BBQ ribs). It was getting late so Kevin and I went back to the Target House. This included a lot of walking, as in downtown Memphis parking close by isn't easy, especially at night. Kevin walked without complaining. We didn't get home until close to 10. A few weeks ago Kevin would've fallen asleep in the car. Not tonight, Kevin was wide awake and had lots of energy. It was so nice to see him feeling so well, that I let him stay up (and of course had to go through the night time medicine protocol). I finally talked him into going to bed. He coerced me into reading to him even this late. Then Kevin was in a talkative mood. He asked some questions and had some commentary that seemed far beyond his years. I'll keep the details between us, but he talked a lot about his cancer, and his future. He was very calm, and deliberate. He's very confident that he's beat this, and will continue to do so. He's excited to go back to school, and doesn't want to do homebound schooling even for a few weeks. He can't wait to play basketball again. He's aware of the very few limitations he will have (because of his shunt) and is at peace with them. If attitude has anything to do with healing, this cancer never stood a chance. His strength, resiliency and ability to grasp minute details and the big picture is astounding. This was a great weekend. He didn't get ill once, and his energy level was the highest I've seen it since he was home for the month inbetween radiation and chemo. He's not even nervous about his last two rounds of chemo. He knows what to expect and is confident he'll have no problem handling it. If I had half the strength this 7 year old kid of mine has, I'd be in such a great place. Tonight more then ever I seem at peace with what's going on. It's been a great weekend, and I hope Kevin continues his progress with Rachel, Mike, and Mike's parents this week. It's pretty late, and I've rambled enough.

Good night all,

Eric