He Laughs At Pain

I realize that parents often marvel at the smallest things for their own kids and think that they are best, but this time I apologize to all parents because Mason is by far the bravest four year old that I have experienced.  Yesterday we took Mason into the doctor’s office to have blood drawn in order to be tested for a bone marrow match.  A few weeks ago when I discussed this with Mason he told me that he wanted to sit up and watch because it would only hurt for a little bit.  I thought this was just a lot of talk and when it would come time we would be strapping him down like a mental patient in order to draw blood.  I was wrong.  Mason sat very strongly in my lap and watched as they inserted the needle and was in amazement as he watched the vile fill with his blood.  I asked him if it scared him and he said “No, it’s pretty cool”.  Not one tear dropped from his eyes and it is one of the proudest moments I have experienced.  He gave blood easier than a lot of adults I know.  Now, if he could only take that attitude to the soccer games we might have better stories to tell after the games.  🙂

As a reward we took Mason ice skating for the very first time.  The first couple laps were not very smooth, but after a few times around and the can do attitude that his mom has instilled in him you could definitely see dramatic improvement.  Of course we still had to hold his hands (e.g. hold him up), but each pass required less and less effort on our part.  He now wants to take lessons so he can play hockey.  Hopefully he keeps that attitude and doesn’t change it to figure skating as he enjoyed watching the girls that were practicing.  Here is a short video of his efforts during the second pass through…

I apologize again for the layout of the video, unfortunately anything taken from on my iphone is rotated for some reason.  WordPress assuress me that they are working on a resolution for this.

Now, for the negative news about Mason’s donor potential.  We did hear back from the doctor today and Mason is not a match.  As disappointing as this is, things are still good as we still have a very high probability of finding a cord blood match via the cord blood bank.  We have also heard some potential of using his current healthy bone marrow, but I don’t know much about that at this time.  We will be in the office on Monday for more blood work for Cutler and hope to get more news at the time.  One request that I have of everyone is that you please never mention this to Mason.  I am sure it goes without saying, but we really don’t ever want him to know that he is not a match.  That can wait until he is much older when he understands these things.  In the mean time, as far as he is concerned, the doctors took his blood to help Cutler. 

Again, this news is not what we had hoped for, but with only a 25% chance of Mason being a match it is what was expected.  Up until this point, everything has gone our way, so we need to expect to have some road blocks in the way, but they are only road blocks and ones that can be removed.  We still have the cord blood solution and more importantly we still have a baby that is in remission and who loves his big brother very much.  Below is a video of Mason coming home from school to find his baby brother home from the hospital.

We thank everyone for staying positive and for their continued thoughts and prayers.

Still Happy

So Cutler is adjusting to the home life quite well from an entertainment perspective.  He loves to play in his exersaucer and to roll around on the floor.  He has become quite adept at rolling all over and is doing a pretty good job of sitting up on his own.  However, his best trick of all is his ability to pull his socks off with his teeth and then keep it there for display purposes.  I believe that if our socks were available he would probably chew on these as well.  He is actually worse than the dog.

Doggy Cutler

Unfortunately in between his play time and feedings, Cutler is still getting sick. You can tell when he is feeling it, but as soon as he vomits he is usually back to his fun-loving self. The doctor today called in a script for a new medicine to help with this and so far it is working. He has successfully stomached three feedings since first taking the medicine. Let’s hope this round of medicine works. If not, he will most likely head back into the hospital. While he definitely misses all of his lady friends there, he prefers it at home.

Kammie Makes The Blog Again

Code Pink Is Always on Belinda's mind

Speaking of the hospital, we have received some conflicting information about a potential transplant.  Three of the four doctors had mentioned this would likely be Cutler’s last round of chemo before the potential transplant, but then when we were in the office for Mason’s blood test (more on that in another post) Dr. Goldman mentioned that we still had another round to go.  I am sure they are combining their brain power and will ultimately make the best decision for him and we hope to hear more on Monday when we go in for more blood work for Cutler.  Until then we just continue to hope for the best and pray that Cutler continues his strong recovery.