Forever Away and Tomorrow
It’s hard to put into words all the emotions that come and go on these days.
I was shocked and immensely proud of Wes as he informed the nurse to do his “owie” slowly, took of his shirt, laid on the table all by himself, held Skye in one arm and my hand with the other, took a deep breath, and got accessed with absolutely zero fear or tears. He proudly told Nonnie on a FaceTime call how brave he was. He then told Ruthie how much he loves her and misses her and that when we come back he’s bringing home a present for her too.
He didn’t cry, but I sure did. He’s come so far and been through so much. He shouldn’t know what having a needle shoved through his chest feels like, much less be used to it now, all while thinking of others and looking forward.
As he made himself right at home in the now barren toy area and demanded the cabinet be unlocked so he could have his go-to bucket of Paw Patrol pups and a toy garage, I just can’t help but think of all the times prior to today where he was so lost. So scared. And now, proud boss.
When he was getting his “tubies” hooked up to the “machine” to receive IVIG (a four hour infusion of synthetic antibodies) and a bolus to get him some sugar since he’d been NPO since last night, he was telling the nurses how to do it, and asking what they were going to do next every step of the way. This is a far cry from when we had to distract him with the iPad so he didn’t throw a fit in protest of being hooked up.
This is his second to last sedation for a lumbar puncture where they inject chemo into his spine and make sure there are no leukemia cells lurking in his spinal fluid. Every month we have scanxiety until we get the report of his numbers, but every three months we get a spinal fluid sample as well. We’ll have that result in a few days, but his initial labs look good, as always. Hopefully for always.
Treatment ends in February. Yesterday it seemed forever away, but today it seems like tomorrow. 🎗
#wesleymorrishoward #childhoodcancerawareness #all #acutelymphoblasticleukemia @ CHOP Specialty Care & Surgery Center, King of Prussia
