Thursday, November 13, 2008

home again, home again, jiggity jig...

Home again.

From the hospital again.

Gavin was discharged last evening after his second dose of antibiotics. He improved most of the night on Tuesday night and into Wednesday. He began running a low grade fever on Wednesday early afternoon which responded very well to Motrin. He also began eating and drinking. And then he began peeing. A ton. Like every 45 minutes. It was as if his little body finally said, "okay, I believe you will keep giving me a drink, so I will now release this fluid I have been holding onto for the last three days." and the floodgates were raised.

I gave him Motrin last night as a precautionary measure to ensure he didn't wake with a high fever again. He is keeping everything down now and really appears to be on the mend. I am keeping him home from school for the rest of the week so I can watch his breathing and listen to him to ensure the fluid is not building up. I also just want to keep him adequately rested for another few days. We follow up with his pediatrician this afternoon.

My Mom is going home again today. We were going to have a house full of people this weekend (my family) but I cancelled. I cancelled as soon as I realized things with Gavin were pretty serious and now I am glad I did. We just need time to be a family. A family of 4 with no doctor's appointments or hospital stays or houseguests. We need to be normal. Well, as normal as a family of 4 fighting cancer and pneumonia can be. As normal as a family of 4 who have not all slept in the same house for 7 nights can be.

Brian is doing pretty good. He is having a lot of issues and discomfort with his joints. The steroids can cause this and we are tapering off the steroids, but we are thinking we might be tapering too fast. It is always difficult to know if the weakness is from the cancer and the brain or from other causes. This is difficult to manage.

Brian's oncologist appointment on Wednesday went well. Gavin was doing okay, so my mom stayed with him while I left the hospital for the first time in 54 hours. Plus, he was a grump (rightfully so) and I needed a little break from him. At the appointment, it was decided to repeat the scan in about a month and determine what chemo to continue based on those results. The chemo he was taking and we are considering continuing inhibits healing, so whenever there is a surgical procedure, the chemo is discontinued for 3-4 weeks prior and 3-4 weeks after the procedure.

Then I picked up Grant from school since I had not seen him since Sunday at bed time. I missed him terribly, and he needed his mommy. We went to the hospital together and visited his grumpy brother. We got an ice cream and went up and down elevators, explored the outdoors on a walk and raced each other in the walkways connecting the building.

Still, today we have an appointment for Gavin and Brian has an appointment on Friday to get his stitches and staples removed.

I am tired. Tired of hospitals. Tired of issues. Tired of making appointments. Tired of cancelling and rescheduling everything else. Tired of no routine. Tired of worries. Tired of illness. Tired of choosing which member of my family I spend my time with. Tired of deciding where to sleep. Tired of germs. Tired. Tired. Tired. Tired.

This weekend we are doing nothing. We are going to be a family. We are going no where. We are making fires in our fireplace, playing games, cooking our own meals, doing our own laundry, cleaning our own house, going to church. Because we can. Because we want to.

KEEP BELIEVING

29 comments:

  1. Angie,
    Yeah! Glad you are all home. Enjoy your "Family Weekend" you all deserve it. I hope you get lots of rest and have a fun weekend. Will be in touch soon....
    Prayers,
    Gretchen

    ReplyDelete
  2. Enjoy the Nothing. We are big fans of the nothing weekend on occasion. Yours is well deserved and well past due. Glad Gavin is doing better.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maybe you can make it through the whole weekend in your pajamas--you're certainly due for a low-key, relaxing weekend. I hope you get it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Time to celebrate Gavin is back home, YEAH !!!
    Enjoy the weekend just the 4 of you.
    Keep believing with you and keeping you lifted
    up with the WORDS of Praises.
    Love you Marjo

    ReplyDelete
  5. So glad Gavin is back home. So glad you have a weekend of ordinary scheduled. You guys deserve a whole lot of ordinary!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Enjoy your time at home. Yall deserve it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You deserve doing nothing but loving you family.. enjoy every blissful second of it..

    I am so glad Gavin is home..

    ReplyDelete
  8. I hope the four of you enjoy a well-deserved (and needed) family weekend together!

    Love Beth

    ReplyDelete
  9. Enjoy your time Angie, I'm so glad you're all home. Best thoughts, your way.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I pray you will get renewed strength this weekend w/ family time. It must be hard to feel as if there isn't enough of you to go around.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yay! Lock the doors, unplug the phones and get out the Disney movies and popcorn!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Have a fantastic weekend!! You are still in my prayers!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Enjoy your family weekend. Unplug your phone and computer. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Angie,

    I am so glad your home!! If you need any thing this weekend let us know.

    Love, Mike & Girls

    ReplyDelete
  15. I agree- unplug the phone, don't answer the door. Love the fire in the fire place- that's what we love to do to just relax. I am sending energetic and loving thoughts your way.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow girl. I just can't fathom this! I've been reading a lot about encouragement and this verse might be of use to you, too. Isaiah 40:28-31. It's beautiful and oh so true! :) HUGS!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I sure hope Gavin continues to improve, and that you and Brian can have some relaxing time this weekend. You both certainly deserve it!

    ReplyDelete
  18. good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  19. God Bless the Ordinary times. You all deserve some peace and quiet. Glad Grumpy is on the mend! Stay off the computer and snuggle with your guys!
    Pax, E

    ReplyDelete
  20. Praying for you! Glad to hear that Gavin is on the mend! Shawn

    ReplyDelete
  21. So very happy for the bit of peace and family time you'll get this weekend. You all deserve it. Enjoy! As always, you all are in my prayers.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Enjoy every second of your weekend, and have fun doing nothing. It sounds lovely.

    Hugs and prayers too.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Amen to you! I will pray that there are no disruptions, illnesses or anything else that might feel tempted to butt in on your much deserved "Family of 4 Weekend". I pray that the four of you will have an amazing time of re-connecting and enjoying each other, not to mention resting up :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Angie, You have every reason to be tired and a weekend as a family is an excellent way to regroup and relax. God is blessin you every minute. I believe that you are surrounded by His arms in a big hug. I believe that this weekend will be wonderful and full of laughter, happiness and peace. God bless you and keep you, Karen

    ReplyDelete
  25. Makes me tired just reading about all you have going on! I can only imagine how you feel.

    Praying the Lord holds YOU in the palm of His hand this weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hope you enjoy a wonderful quiet weekend with your boys.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I hope you're enjoying your peaceful weekend. I suggest that the whole family remain in their pajamas for the duration. Well...I guess not at church. xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  28. You have so much going on. I can only imagine that at times you feel like you are on auto pilot.

    I have no doubt this time with family will be lovely . . . relaxing, hopefully.

    Take care of you, k?

    ReplyDelete
  29. It's Sunday evening. I hope that you've had a wonderfully restful weekend. We'll keep P.U.S.H.ing for you. xoxoxo

    ReplyDelete

KEEP COMMENTING