Christian's Fight: Welcome Back!

Ryan and I at White Rock beach

Welcome back! I am sorry it has been so long since my last posting. I was feeling very low and expired so I decided to pack up Ryan and head to Abbotsford to watch my niece play volleyball. Of course anybody who knows me, knows that I can’t go that close to the American border and not do a little shopping! My niece played in the U17 Volleyball Nationals (she played amazing!) and I was able to visit with some of my family in white rock and down in Seattle. It was so nice to reconnect with family and have a little ‘disconnect’ with our current grind. That being said I had Ryan with me and he decided to not sleep while we were away! I have never returned from a vacation so tired! Nonetheless thank you to Sandra and Jon for having me, Aunty Shirley and Uncle Victory for putting up with me and Rose and Shannon for entertaining me! Thanks for the break.

On to more important matters. Christian has completed 5 of his 28 treatments of radiation. He received his first treatment on Monday morning (one week ago today). It seemed to go off without a hitch until we were over at the children’s hospital were he was getting a kidney function test and started throwing up in the waiting room. They had forgotten to give him his anti-nausea drug before starting his radiation treatment – oops. Needless to say the first day didn’t go as well as we had hoped but it was a learning tool for Chris and I. We were reminded that we are Christian’s health care advocates and it is our job to ensure that he gets what he needs while he is in the hospital or elsewhere getting treatments. So each day from then on we gently reminded the anesthetist to give Christian what he needs! Since that day it has been great and we have already had a few laughs or two. The second day of treatment Christian was asleep when we left for the hospital, asleep when they put him ‘to sleep’, asleep when he “woke up” from his sleep and then slept the whole way home in the car, where we transferred him to his waiting bed. Later on that afternoon when Nanny declared how well he had done at the hospital that day he said, “I didn’t go to the hospital today!” The staff in the basement of the Tom Baker is amazing and tends to Christian, Chris and mine’s every need. We saw the machine that is used to radiate him as well as the body cast that he lies in to ensure he is in the exact same position every time. It is a bit ominous to look around the room at the ‘casts’ that other patients are using. There are a few other small body casts and a whole shelf of facemasks for people who are getting radiation to their head. Wednesday was the day of comic relief for our family. Each day when we go to radiation we are able to give him his injections and clean his central line or anything that he doesn’t like to have done on a regular basis, while he is sleeping. So on Wednesday I started cleaning and changing his dressing (which he detests), and it lured him out of his trance a little earlier than he would have normally woken up. The funny part is that he was slightly….ummmmm…I guess the word is intoxicated from the anesthetic. He begin hugging and kissing the nurse and flirting like a 19 year old! Then when he told it was time to get in his stroller to go out to the car he said, “no way my big ol’ but is going to fit into that stroller!” When we finally got him in the stroller he looked down and said, “oh I guess it does fit!” He had us in absolute stitches with his age inappropriate actions and use of descriptive words. Anyways it was a nice feeling to belly laugh out loud and make good of a difficult time.

Trying to wake up after Radiation

Love Aunty Rose!

30 minutes later I was in the airport and on my way to Vancouver for a few days of escape. It was great to be gone and great to be home. We are onto treatment #6 tomorrow and big chemo on Tuesday. He is pretty excited as he will get another ambulance ride over to the Tom Baker for his radiation the morning after his chemo as he will still be admitted to the unit while they hydrate the chemo out of his system.

Love Great Aunty Shirley

Lovin' my cousin Shannon and the volleyball cuties

My aunty Denise arrives tomorrow (hahaha I think that is funny because I am a few years older than her and I am going to refer to her as aunty all week!) She is bringing two of her kids Seth and Josie and I am hoping to witness some fantastic ‘parallel’ play between all the kids and a scrap or two over toy ownership. Bring on the good times!