First Week of School - A Fait de Complet

Today is Friday and we have completed our first week of back to school and our second chemo treatment. One of those events could wear me out, two together definately make me ready for the weekend. Jack has enjoyed being in school, I am learning that days 2 and 3 after chemotherapy might be the hardest days for him. The ebbs and flow of the nausea are not easy to figure out without some trial and error. Zofran which is the anti-nausea drug Jack is on every 4 hours keeps him from feeling sick, so well in fact, that I thought he didn't need dosed after the first 36 hours. Big mistake, it is only an illusion that he wouldn't be sick, the Zofran does it's job well. Thank you God for Zofran. Needless to say, Jack was pretty sick yesterday when he woke up, I gave him a dose of the Zofran a.s.a.p., but he never really got back to feeling good. I went ahead and took him to school once he felt well enough and after breakfast, he wanted to go, and I think that school is a great way for him to not focus on how yucky he feels. At 1:30 I heard from the school nurse and she said that Jack was reporting he had a sore throat. I had figured out that when Jack is complaining of a sore throat he really means he has jaw pain, which is a side effect of the vincristine chemo drug. By the time tylenol would kick in it would have been after school, so I went and picked him up and we had a nice hour together before picking up Derek and Sophie.
Saturday we have a follow up appointment with Dr. Moody who comes to Abilene one Saturday a month. He is the opthamologist that performed Jack's eye surgery a couple of weeks ago. Jack's eyes look great. They are barely bloodshot anymore and they are straight again.
Next week our chemotherapy appointment moves to Wednesday, so they will be edging us to a permanent Thursday day. That will be great for Jack because by Monday he should be ready for 3 and a half good days of school each week.
How is our family doing with all of this?
We are doing well. Derek and Sophie are compassionate to Jack and even though there are typical sibling disagreements, all in all they are looking out for him. Sophie is his twin, she looks after Jack and is concerned for him. Jack does not like taking all of his medications, and vitamins, so every now and then he has a meltdown (atleast once a day), but one day it was particularly dramatic and he was lying on the floor, crying big tears, and tearing our hearts out. Sophie went and got her special silk blanky and layed it on Jack's hands with tears in her eyes. She said, "Here Jack hold on to this it will make you feel better." Little did my mom know before she died 5 years ago, when she made Sophie that blanket, that it would be an offering from one of her grandchildren to the other.
We all do everything we can to make Jack feel better, and I know it helps, but the hard truth is - it is happening to Jack, and when it comes right down to it, it is he who has to deal with it, that is alot for my sweet 6 year old boy. God will use all that Jack has gone and is going through in his life, he will be stronger for it, he will have extra compassion for sick children, I can already see the way it is molding him.
Rob and I are holding on tight to each other. I think that serious illness can cause, and many times does cause trouble in a marriage, but this is where I am on my knees thanking God for the man he sent me. Rob is calm, loving, compassionate, he is not quick to anger, and not easily frustrated (or atleast he hides it well). He is a rock in our family, he loves the Lord and spends time in God's word every day, he is a man of prayer. He honors me and makes me feel like I am so special to him. So we are holding on tight to each other, our kids, our family, church family and friends, and claiming the love of Jesus to direct us through this time.
God bless each one of you who pray for us. I have said this many times, but with all of ya'll in our corner we feel like we have the best support group ever.
Tammy