One week ago...

Today has been one week since we arrived at Children's Hospital and learned that Noah has leukemia.  There has been no other week in my life that has compared to this one. When we first arrived here, the nurses and doctors told us that we would get use to this, that this would be normal to us soon. I didn't think that was possible. It's amazing what you can get use to. Already Noah has had his second blood transfusion and a platelet transfusion. I have gained much appreciation for people that donate blood.  Its not easy so see him receiving all these procedures. The big one was his port that was put in yesterday. He is in quite a bit of pain today, and still on morphine.

So much uncertainty. One of the nurses came to speak to us today about going home and what that can look like. As much as we all want to go home, it's frightening. We don't have the nurses and doctors here on hand to guide us. We will have to rely on our own judgement. They will always be available for us to call, which is nice. It's just hard to try and imagine what our life will look like. We take it day by day for now.

The side effects can be scary. He will become irritable and short tempered. His sleep will be disturbed. He will want to eat all the time. Nevermind all the effects that can be harmful to him, like fevers and bleeding and so many other things that we will need to know how to control and handle. He will be on medication to subdue nausea and infection. And we will have to be very careful when his blood counts are low. We may not be able to go out with him, and certainly not have anyone visit who is sick in any way.  Its all so overwhelming.

Prayer requests: that his port will heal, and he will be more mobile soon and not in any pain. That his mood will be tolerable for us as parents. That this cancer will be killed and never return. That our other children will cope well with this life now. That our family will grow stronger and closer through this experience. - Melissa -