Home again

Jake has now completed his second round of chemo which included a 6 day and 5 night stay in the hospital.  Not quite a vacation, but it wasn't really as bad as we thought it might be.  Jake was occupied by several volunteers just itching for a kid to play with.  They chased him around and around the nurses station while he road the tricycle, painted with him, and played trains.  Then Randy let him ride the tricycle all over the hospital, which I didn't realize we were allowed to do.  There wasn't complete freedom, but it did give us the opportunity to explore and get relief from some cabin fever.  I was really ready to go home but Jake was not because he remembered what has to be done first.  He is always very unhappy when anyone goes near his port and in order to go home the nurse has to remove the access (the needle and tubing) from the port.  It's not a pretty site and really not fun for me either.  I have to hold him down so they can peel the tape off, and to add insult to injury, he had to get his flu shot.  The poor boy was definitely ready to get out of there after that!

Now we are back home and Jake is having fun playing with Ethan and Aubrey and everything is sort-of back to normal.  Jake's hair is sparse- all that's left is very blonde and fuzzy.  We tried to give him a buzz cut this weekend but he refused.  The first thing Ethan said was "Where did all of Jake's brown hair go?" Jake looks in the mirror and laughs, "Look at my hair!"  Then he runs off to play.  Our fears about how he would handle looking different were calmed by his response.  He just doesn't seem to care!

I don't think I can say enough that I am so thankful for all of the family, friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers who have shown us so much support.  I am also very thankful to have married a thoughtful, kind, generous, compassionate, loving, hard-working, handsome (including the mustache) husband.  He is my number one support when I feel sad and always says the right thing to make me feel better.  Sunday night was one of those times and this is what he said: "For whatever reason we have been chosen for this road and we have to decide how we will handle it.  There will always be demons trying to get in, but we can make the choice to keep them out."  Randy, I love you.