No Intracardiac Thrombus

What does "no intracardiac thrombus" mean?  No more clot!!  It's gone!  Completely gone.  That's the best news we've heard in a while!  Hurray! 

We can't wait to stop tummy needles.  April 4 is the expected end date for them.  No more morning and night sit down, ice Caleb's tummy, clean it, give the needle, hold for 5 minutes.  No more fear of brain bleeds and internal bleeding.  Good news indeed.

Caleb went to school for a full day today.  He really wanted to.  Today the inter-link nurse, Claire, came and did a presentation in Caleb's class about leukemia and the treatment that Caleb has had.  She gave medicine to a doll--medical play like we've shown pictures of here on the blog--and showed a video that the makers of Peanuts comics put together.  In the video, a friend of Linus gets leukemia.  They visit her, she has medicine and misses school, and she comes back to school again.  The class enjoyed the movie--Snoopy is funny no matter what context, apparently.  Caleb told me that the little girl had a "bob", and Anna said that the little girl was "blonde."  What they were trying to say was that the little girl was "BALD" from her treatments.  Her hair grew back just like Caleb's (and, speaking of hair, check out Hans' Hirsute Challenge in the side bar of this blog!).   

Another thing Caleb learned today was the word "Cancer."  He said, "Mum, today we watched a movie about Can-cer."  He said it in such a specific way, unique.  We have rarely referred to what Caleb has as cancer, rather using it's name, leukemia.  It is cancer, but leukemia is a specific type of cancer.  In the beginning when Caleb was first sick, Tim and I talked about leukemia and cancer, and named Caleb's illness leukemia more often, realizing that for us and most adults, cancer carries such fear just in its name.  We can fight leukemia much more confidently than we can fight cancer.  With the kids today at school, cancer and leukemia were no different from one another.  Something to think about.  Hmm... I suppose I should probably check with Caleb to see if he knows that they're the same, that the nurse was talking about his leukemia when she was talking about cancer. 

After a day and a half, what's Caleb's favourite part about school?  They have a car mat.  Easily impressed, he is.

First Day of School?!

We celebrated again today!  Here is Caleb, showing off his backpack for his first day of school!  We are thrilled that he can go, but not as thrilled as he is!  Caleb stayed for half the day, and talked non-stop for the rest of the day about it (including 45 minutes on the phone with Grandpa!).

Going to school is an exciting and slightly nerve-wracking experience for any parent.  We're blessed that we have a nurse who touches base with the school and helps to support us as we enroll Caleb and he adjusts to school.  The nurse has met with both Caleb's teacher and the principal, and will quite possibly meet with Caleb's class as well.  The most significant special need that arises when Caleb is in school is the awareness of his exposure to chicken pox and similar common childhood illnesses.  If Caleb is exposed to these, he could get very sick.  When he was home, we were able to keep good control over who he was exposed to.  Now that he's not always home, we're a little more vulnerable.  Enrolling him in March makes sense for all kinds of reasons, not just the end of leg needles: it's close to the end of flu season, and hopefully less chance for exposure to chicken pox.  We go forward in the trust that we continue to rest in God's hand!

We've received a lot of congratulations and encouragement as Caleb has finished the leg needles. Thank you to everyone; your words mean so much to us. Change, even positive change, always brings challenges and so we thank you for your encouragement to us. On Thursday of this week Caleb will go for a follow-up echocardiogram to check the status of the clot on his port. Please please pray that it has diminished so much that we can stop doing blood thinners. Blood thinners inhibit Caleb's freedom to be a kid, as he has to be careful about bumps and bruises--part of a normal childhood. We would so love to say goodbye to blood thinners and tummy needles, and Thursday's test will give us answers.


On a different note, we've had a busy few weeks since the last leg needle!  You'd almost think that we had March Break!

We visited Agape Valley Maple Sugar Bush, in Vineland.  They show us how Maple syrup was made in the old days and how it's made today too!  Pancakes and a straw ride and we had a great morning out!

Uncle Johan has been helpful in educating Caleb about the different makes of tractors.  He's been opened up to a new world of Kubota, Case, and New Holland.  This red tractor is a "White," the kind that Daddy had when he was growing up.  Caleb still prefers to Drive Green.



On our march through the sugar bush.

Niagara Falls.  

I don't know where we got the energy, but we went to Niagara Falls on the same day as the sugar bush.  Not sure I'd recommend doing that again. 

  

And one more makes 30!

Last leg needle done!

After Caleb's leg needle, the nurse with the loudest voice called out to everyone waiting at clinic, and we did a 3 loud "Hip-Hip Hoorays!" to celebrate together.  Not a lot of dry eyes.  It's a special time for all of the parents there--who've either been there or will be there.  We're thankful and happy.  Caleb's joy was so apparent, it was awesome to know that he really gets it, and he's really happy to be done these needles. 

We're now in Maintenance phase, which is still a year and a half long, but just one clinic trip a week instead of two.  One step at a time.  Thanks for celebrating this little mountain with us!

One More Week

We have just one more week of Consolidation II therapy before we move into Maintenance! I don't think we ever thought this day would come! One more leg needle next week. After the leg needles are done, we'll have just one clinic day a week instead of two, and hopefully get Caleb off of the blood thinner needles. Thanks for praying us through this time. Maintenance phase is another long haul, much longer at about a year and a half, but it's simpler than the other phases.

It's week one of this round of chemo, though, and so it's steroids week again. We had a miracle day yesterday, arriving at the hospital at 7:30 am for clinic and out at 10:30! That's a first. Caleb had a lumbar puncture--the once every 9 weeks chemo in his cerebro-spinal fluid. It makes for a more tiring week because Caleb gets more chemo at one time than he usually does. He appears more pale and tired. We're hopeful that this week will go smoothly, particularly because Caleb has discovered a new computer game, plowing and planting fields with his tractor. Our goal is simply to get through the week with as few hard times as possible! So far (one day in) so good.