We have been having such fun!!

Summer is just around the corner, and we are ready...we all went to the new Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach with Camp Happy Days on Saturday and had such a fun time. Again, the boys' favorite part was a small water park inside of the park where they could get wet and have fun. We had a great day.

Thursday's clinic visit was uneventful but long. Eli got his LP so there was no eating or drinking, which made for a grumpy guy. But we got home around 3pm. His counts continue to be good:

ANC 2140
Platelets 190
Hemoglobin 12.1

They have come down some, which is good. This week he is on his steroids, so they may take another jump up. We are going to Garden City Beach for our vacation on Saturday, so honestly I wouldn't mind them being high another week. They have switched Eli to Prednisone from Dexamethosone. Everyone on his study got switched...and we are definitely seeing more steroid "difficulties" this time around. I am hoping it is because this is a new drug for him and that he may get used to it with time. Dr. Kalpatthi agreed to do a bone scan although it really won't tell us if Eli is prone to AVN or not, just how strong his bones are at the moment. As I have said before, this is just a side effect that we will look out for. It isn't as though this would have changed any of our decisions in his treatment. Unfortunately that is the big problem with Pediatric Cancer treatments. There seems to be success, but at a cost. These guys are little and in the middle of serious development....any disruption to that can be really hard to overcome. But overcoming obstacles in life will be fine as long as Eli is there to overcome them with us !!!!

Out of the mouthes of babes......Sam got so excited when I told him we were going to Hard Rock Park with Camp Happy Days that he said, "you know mom, sometimes I am happy that Eli got cancer..." I told him then that we would still get to do this fun stuff if Eli weren't sick, and he agreed that we really do spend a lot of time in the hospital....maybe not. What honesty!! We are so blessed that this has not taken a bigger toll on our other two.....I hope that is how they remember this time in our lives, even if my memory will be totally different!!

I will try to check in one more time before leaving Sat morn. Thanks for checking in.

Maria

I am thankful for my parents who have loved us and supported us through this!!!