Round 3

Despite a substantial amount of snot and mediocre liver enzyme numbers, we were all systems go for round number 3 of Antibody Therapy this week.

Cameron was admitted on Monday morning and began treatment the following day.  This has been a relatively easy round for Cameron, although he still experienced the usual side effects of pain and itchy hives.  Despite not feeling great, Cameron has been keeping me on my toes!  He's determined to be out of his room as much as possible and I can honestly say that I am exhausted from trying to keep up with him as he races around the unit.  He has so much energy and he fights hard against the sedative effects of the morphine and benadryl, it's great to see him feeling well enough to play - especially when I know what's headed our way in the next round.

Cameron has been quite the celebrity the last couple of weeks.  He was featured in the Giving Guide of the Atlanta Business Chronicle, filmed for a video for the hospital board of directors and was photographed for an article in a local newspaper.  He is taking his new found celebrity status VERY seriously and has already started acting like a Kardashian. 

Here he is in the Giving Guide advert:

 

 



This cycle of Antibody Therapy will be completed tonight and he will be weened off the morphine from midnight - we are scheduled to go home tomorrow afternoon!  3 Down, 2 to go!

 



 

School Days

It's been a busy couple of weeks since Cameron completed his second round of Antibody Therapy.  One of the most exciting things to happen in our household is that the boys started preschool!  They are going to St. Brendan's Preschool 3 mornings a week and they are LOVING IT!  Last year, they went 2 mornings a week but Cameron was diagnosed shortly after they started school and James had to stop going to school earlier this year as he kept getting sick while Cameron was having his transplants - so it's been a long time since they were in a classroom together.  I was sure that I would have to deal with tears from both of them when I dropped them off - but the only tears on the first day, were mine!  OK, I thought, that was just because they didn't know that I was actually leaving them there for 3 hours, as soon as they cotton on to that little fact, there will be tears and drama.  Boy was I wrong!  Day two went even better than the first day, in fact, Cameron started saying "bye-bye mommy" when we were still in the parking lot.  It's no wonder that they are so happy there, it's a truly loving environment, their teachers and principal are fantastic and the boys can't wait to go to school.  We had a tremendous amount of support from the school last year, after Cameron was diagnosed and I'm thrilled that we got the go ahead from the doctors to send them there again this year.

As many of you know, sleep has been rather an elusive luxury over the last few months.  Most nights we all play a not-so-fun game of what can only be called musical beds (without the music).  The boys start off in their beds and then throughout the night they switch around.  Cameron usually goes to the guest room at some point and one of us will go and lie with him, usually falling asleep there, James will stomp through to our room at some ridiculous hour and proceed to take over the entire bed - leaving Frank and I a mere slither of bed on the very edge or both children will end up in our bed and Frank and I will eventually admit defeat and one or both of us will go and sleep in the guest room.  It's ridiculous!  I know that you are thinking "just let them cry it out, lay down the law, lock them in their rooms", we have tried to take the tough approach and it works for a while, but as soon as Cameron goes back into hospital - we are back at square one.  So, we have given up for now - we will revisit the "cry it out" technique when all the hospital visits are over (I also plan to potty train then and get rid of James' pacifier - I might need to be institutionalized). 
In the mean time, Frank and I needed SLEEP!  Our fantastic nanny, Ana, who looked after the boys while Cameron was going through chemo came to the rescue.  She stayed with the boys on Saturday night while Frank and I enjoyed dinner together and checked into a hotel and got a full nights rest.  It was amazing!

Refreshed, revitalized and feeling ever so slightly guilty about leaving the children, we took them to their favorite place on Sunday - Chuck E. Cheese!  For those of you who have never visited Chuck E. Cheese, it is a children's entertainment center that has arcade games galore.  Cameron has clearly inherited my affinity for gambling and spent the afternoon dashing from game to game, feeding tokens in and squealing with delight as the game spewed out tickets that can be exchanged at the end for a toy.  Neither of the boys can actually play any of the arcade games, but they absolutely LOVE going there.  It's an expensive and rather germy afternoon - so we either have to feel really fond of them or very guilty in order to take them there.  $40 and several hours of noise later, and all we had to show for it was 2 suckers that they exchanged their tickets for and a snotty nose from Cameron today - but the boys had an absolute blast!

 

 

 

Cameron will be going in for tests this Thursday to check his liver enzymes and to see if he is healthy enough to start round 3 of the Antibody Therapy.  If all goes according to plan, he is scheduled to be admitted on Monday September 10th for his next round.  Other than his runny nose, he seems to be feeling well, I really hope that all of his lab work looks good and that we can start the next round on schedule.