Friday Morning Update

Good morning from Party Central. We have already had radiation treatment #2 this morning. I am so thankful he is first on the schedule each day so he does not have to go without food. He was still asleep at 6:45 when they came to get him. It makes an early morning for me and Mike, but for David's comfort we are thrilled. Radiation only takes about 20 minutes and frankly it takes longer to wake him up than the actual treatment. We love the nurse over there and we know we are in good hands.

A kidney doctor just came and consulted with us. Our oncologist asked for a consult from him due to a slightly elevated Creatinine level in Rock Star's one good kidney. It is not crazy high, but they want him on board to make sure he can tolerate the chemo meds over the long haul. We were kind of worried when he came in to introduce himself because he first said that he was now involved due to concern from the oncologist. You do not want your oncologist to be concerned about anything, but he then went on to say that he is happy to consult but he is not concerned about DAvid's kidney because it looks good on ultrasound and his Creatinine is not crazy high. Shew-that one got our heart pumping a little bit:)

So we are resting and ready for a weekend off of treatment. Mike is heading home for a few days to spend some time with Kyle and go walk for Team David in the Thomas Musser walk!!!! He is excited and David will not have any treatments this weekend. His oncologist just took him off of IV fluids to see if he can drink enough to make them feel good about him possibly getting discharged. They really want him drinking enough and peeing enough to keep that Creatinine level at a good place. We are all worn out here and a restful, no treatment weekend sounds heavenly considering Monday he will have both chemo and radiation and then radiation each day after that.

I do not doubt Rock Star's ability to endure all the treatments schedule for next week, but we as parents worry about all this. But David is truly amazing and he will handle it with the strength and grace he has shown us so far. We could all take a lesson from David on how to handle adversity. He amazes us each and everyday. We are such proud parents.

We appreciate all the continued prayers and love. We have had some amazing visitors this week who have encouraged us. We are keeping the faith here and clinging to our Jesus. Watching Mike tenderly scoop David and move him from bed to stretcher each morning makes me tear up each day. All the nurses have commented how gracefully Mike has handled this situation. Mike is the sponge that soaks up all the information and he has taken on lots of the details about DAvid's continued care when we get discharged. He has done a better job than me of keeping up with friends from home. I get so emotional to talk to anyone still:)

We are ready for the weekend of rest and relaxation:)

Good Day

Today was really a good day from Party Central. We had a visit from Pastor Jonathan and he even got David to eat some of his spaghetti!! Whoo hoo!! I think David is so over me and Mike and he enjoyed seeing a familiar face from home.

We really enjoyed our lunch from the Postons of spaghetti and meatballs, salad, fruit, and cookies. David even had some leftover tonight for dinner. The nurses are pleased with his food intake today!

Yesterday David got this in the mail from Vickie and I love it! David and I laid in his bed the other night and read the story of David and Goliath from the bible and then we got this in the mail:) We are clinging to that awesome story from the bible. Most times David acts out the bible story and he gets to be David and he makes Mike be Goliath. We are certainly fighting a Goliath here, but just like David we have the Lord with us and we are warming up our sling shot.

Ms. Teri stopped by to visit today and it was so good to see her. She is such a special soul from church:)

Teri brought this awesome picture for David of two of David's doctors-Dr. Clampitt and Dr. McDowell from Sunday school. This picture bring tears to my eyes because these two gentlemen are so awesome to our Rock Star. Dr. Clampitt (top) has already talked with our oncolgoist here on how to care for DAvid when we get home. We will be in good hands:) Dr. McDowell takes good care of David during Sunday School.

Teri caught David in a silly mood and here he is jamming to some music with Teri.

We also had a visit from Diane! It was so good to catch up with friends from home. Diane has been so generous and kind to us and she is also AShley and Jason's boss at the hospital.

Here is Rock Star rocking on with his guitar tonight. He has really felt great today but we are gearing up for another day of radiation tomorrow. Thanks for the prayers and keep them coming!

Radiation #1

So radiation started today. It still boggles my mind that for the next week we will have to load up in an ambulance every morning at 7 ish and head across the street for a treatment. Truly bizarre, but I am thankful for the wonderful care we are receving at the Emily Couric Cancer Center.

I believe that the sedation is harder on him than the actual radiation. It is hard to come out of sedation without being grumpy and I think that is the hard part to watch. He did throw up one time coming out of the radiation treatment room, but he has been fine this afternoon.

Due to a sweet family we know, we received a catered lunch here in our room today and David actually ate it!!!! Pastor Jonathan was here and he ate well for him. I think at this point David is soooo tired of me and Mike. We are in his face all day demanding he eat, drink, pee, or poop and he is over us. Jonathan was a novelty today and he helped David eat a great lunch of spaghetti and grapes.

David was a little zombie right after radiation, but this afternoon he is silly, spunky, and off to school here at the hospital. It is amazing what he has been through this week and he still has his spunk and a smile. This child is truly my hero and I am such a proud Momma.

We enjoyed Jonathan's visit and as always we had a good theological talk. We love catching up on news from home and I am so excited to see pictures from the walk this weekend. The love that you all are sending here is overwhelming us (in a good way) and we are so thankful for all the prayers and love. We may not get to respond to texts, fb messages, and emails, but we do read everyone of them and they make us smile.

Mr. Rock Star is off to school right now doing some addition on the Ipad. We have really had an easy day today considering we started radiation. The nurses want him to start a mouth wash to help with mouth sores caused by chemo and frankly I am dreading that. David does not get the concept of swish and spit and he is petrified of those swabs on a stick. The little things like that and changing his port dressings are very stressful to him. Since he is under sedation each morning we try to take care of stressful things like port dressings and removing tape while he is under. They are so awesome here about decreasing David's stress during this nightmare. God has put some amazing professionals in our life here and we are so thankful.

I will post pictures later tonight with an evening update. Today has amazingly been easy and uneventful. We are still fighting the eating and drinking battle, but we are going to win so he will not need a feeding tube. Thank you dear famiy and friends for reading my daily dissertations and keeping our Rock Star in your prayers.