Home at Last!

Happy New Year! I am so sorry to have left everyone hanging in suspense over what happened in the last 36 hours, especially since we have been at home for the past 24. Those of you shoot vacation videos will understand the dilemma: Should I take the shot for others to see what we’ve done, or should I live the moment and share the memory. There is no real option for us, and unfortunately our e-mail server has been down and so the e-mail synopsis has not been as easily distributed. (Lizy puts out a short email with a play-by-play while it is my job to add the color)
An hour after the last post, chemotherapy was restarted, as expected the annoying itchy rash returned, but Evan had been sedated and slept through the rash without any anxiety or itching. And 30 minutes later, the rash resolved itself. Chemo was kept running at 10 ml/hr through the night without incident. Evan woke on Tuesday morning wondering why he was in the hospital and when he could go home, ate a good breakfast and tried to patiently wait for the infusion to be complete. Starting at 9:00 am the dosing was increased 10 ml/hr until 2 pm when it was moved to 60 ml, and then to 100 ml/hr for the last hour of medicine 1.
In preparation for medicine 2 Evan began to develop hives, itching and anxiety again, at the same time as a pre-med was being administered. This was the same medicine which had been hung in premed the other 5 attempts at starting chemo, and the one med which had not been running during the day. Ah Hah! As we have again experienced the same reaction at home this evening when he took the medicine for some nausea onset, we believe that this will lead to a positive change moving forward. The second medication went in without trouble as Evan had been given an ant anxiety medication that sedated him for the evening which only became problematic when we had to move him from car to house when we got home. Today has been quiet and relaxed, a nice surprise of opening up two boxes of games and toys from Kids Wish Network.
We hope to be going to San Diego next week (Assuming blood counts are in line) to visit Legoland thanks to Kids Wish Network. It will mark a great way to start 2009.
A look back on this year is not easy, but upon closer inspection we can find some real nuggets of gold. The type of gold that you can’t buy or sell. The crafting of this gold that takes hours, days and weeks to work into wonders of strength and beauty. This gold is the color of friendships (far and wide) and family (near and distant). This gold is love, its source is Our Father in heaven. It is not all that He is; but it is His medium of choice for us to work in. And His example to model after is stunning, beautiful and timeless. And more important is the fact that all we have to do with this material is to acknowledge its source. His pleasure is in seeing us try, and like a parent watching a child finger paint He enjoys the look on our faces when we smile at doing something ‘pretty’ on our own..
This year we have received the gold of love in abundance, and we hope that through this writing and Evan‘s story; that you might take some of our gold and share it with those around you. And now we wish you many blessings for the coming 12 months, and we’ll be sure to post pictures of LEGO’s in abundance upon our return.