coffee in the ER

Today we had a friend drop off Starbucks at the ER. For Ethan. Talk about a picture of our new life - ordering a caffeinated beverage purposefully for our almost 4-year old boy and making him drink it in an attempt to relieve chemo side effects.

It's been a long day.

Since our ER visit on Friday night, Ethan did not spike another true "fever" but his temp had still been slightly elevated. He's also been complaining of a headache, so much so that I had scheduled an appointment with our nurse practitioner this morning to check things out.

Unfortunately, instead of getting to go to the clinic at 9:30am, Ethan spiked a fever at 4am and so we instead had to take a trip to the ER. And it was a long morning/day there. The ER team had trouble accessing his port and after several attempts, they determined that his port had a clot in it that was preventing it from working. Thankfully, we once again had a great team of nurses, and after a few hours, they were able to get his port unclotted.

So, after a 6 hour stay we were thankfully able to be discharged. The team still thinks that his fever is due to a virus and that the headache is unfortunately a side effect from his intrathecal chemo last week. They recommended trying to give Ethan some caffeine, as it can normally help, and so we decided to give a Starbucks frapaccino a try, since Ethan refuses to have pop.

And so it was an unexpected day, spent in a way we didn't anticipate. We are all tired and worn out from the emotion and the early morning. But honestly, I am also very thankful. Incredibly thankful, really, for all the people who helped us get through this unexpected hard day:

• For all of the nurses in the ER who took such good care of my boy.
• For our friends the Starks who watched Eloise at a moment's notice early this morning, so that Pete could join me at the hospital.
• For our friend Kelly who dropped off coffee for Ethan (and us), and then brought us dinner tonight.
• For our nanny who came on a day she wasn't scheduled, to help take care of Eloise. 
• For the rest of our family and friends, who were ready and willing to help with whatever we needed and who prayed for Ethan when things escalated.

We are just so immensely blessed to have such a family of people helping to take care of us when we need it. Words cannot express how thankful and grateful we are. Thank you so much, dear friends and fam!

Specific prayer requests:

• Please pray for healing for Ethan from this virus or whatever it is, and for protection over his body from the effects of chemo. 
•  For my sweet girl Eloise, who is also impacted on hard days like this.
• Again for Ethan's birthday on Friday, that it would be a day he can really celebrate and feel loved.