Weekly Check Up Tuesday, Sept 23 and Friday, Sept 26

Both kids had their Terry Fox runs this week. While the Terry Fox Foundation is undoubtedly a wonderful organization, I would like to remind people to doublecheck where your donation dollars are going. The Terry Fox Foundation raises over 98% of their funds by kids in schools, but only spends about 6% of those funds on pediatric research.

If you want to support cancer research, absolutely donate to the Terry Fox Foundation, but if you want to support pediatric cancer research, please consider donating to the Michael Cuccione Foundation or Cops for Cancer. And now I will get off my high horse. 

Last Friday we knew Eric's hemoglobin was getting low and he would need a transfusion soon. He didn't do much this weekend - Lego, iPad - until swimming lessons on Sunday. However, less than 15 minutes into his 30 minute lesson he called me over to tell me that he was super tired and his head was hurting, so we decided to call it a day and went home for a warm soothing bath. 

Monday he woke up ready for school, but wanted a ride there in order to conserve his energy. He also said he might not make it through the whole day, but he did! We had a make up swimming lesson scheduled for Monday night and that was a great big no way from Eric. The school day sapped every last ounce of his energy. 

We were into the clinic on Tuesday this week in order to make the trip to the Sunshine Coast this weekend happen between hospital visits. I am actually glad it wasn't a Wednesday appointment because it is nice to get him his red blood cell transfusion and know that he will be feeling better the rest of the week. Blood and platelets together on the same day = LEGO, in Eric's mind, since it is such a long day. Unfortunately, our amazing Child Life Specialist is not here this week! She is so lovely and giving and bends over backwards for these kids, so I guess we will allow her to take vacation, as if it were up to us. I ended up at the gift shop buying a Lego set. It is not very big, but it is a 3 in 1 so Eric can build all 3 different characters to keep him occupied.  

Eric went to school Wednesday and Thursday, including a playdate on Wednesday and playing outside with a neighbour friend on Thursday. It is nice to see the red blood cell transfusion give him the energy to do these things. It is amazing, but also sometimes shocking to see how he doesn't let his disease limit him. On Thursday when he came home from school he said he was going to go rollerblading. ROLLERBLADING! The kid has no platelets and hasn't been rollerblading in a couple years. Luckily we couldn't find his rollerblades and he settled for his scooter instead. I was happy with this substitute but not much less concerned when he went ripping by the house at a million kilometers an hour. 

Friday we headed back to the hospital for another platelet transfusion. Traffic was quite a bit faster that we had anticipated - yay! - and we arrived a little early. Miraculously, the platelets arrived at the clinic just as his nurse finished his port access. Then his Nurse Practitioner arrived for an exam just as the platelets finished. We were out of there in less than 2 hours, which is a new record for a visit that involved a transfusion. We were out so fast that we only got partial bloodwork results. His hemoglobin was up to 104 after his transfusion, but we didn't get his platelet results. When they're super low the lab takes extra time to review them manually. We joke about them counting each individual platelet, and one nurse asked us if we name them. Oncology moms tend to have a bit of a dark sense of humour; I guess its the only way to get through it. 

Finally, and I was a little afraid to say anything before now lest I jinx it, but Chuck and the kids have gone to the Sunshine Coast for the weekend to visit Granny, while Millie and I stay HOME ALONE! I am pretty excited about it! 

Eric finished the current round of treatment on Monday and we are back to clinic on Wednesday. 

All the Lego built this week: