halfway through radiation

We've been home since Friday afternoon - and have been staying very busy, even though we've pretty much just stayed home the entire weekend! I almost forgot to snap our discharge day photo but Ethan and I got a quick picture in the parking garage before we headed home on Friday.

We enjoyed a whirlwind visit on Saturday night from some of our favorite family on their way back to Minnesota from Florida - Uncle Rob, Auntie Gail, and Cousins Jack, Josh and Grace. It was such a whirlwind that I have no pictures to prove they were here. Regardless, it was such a blessing to see them and Ethan and Eloise were pretty much jumping and running around the entire time, they were so excited.

It seems like every time we come home from the hospital I get hit with a burst to "nest" and get things organized and cleaned around the house. So, that's how much of the weekend was spent, along with lots of organizing of cabinets and loads of laundry and even putting up some pictures on our attic floor that have been waiting to be hung for months now.

And of course getting to snuggle with my sweet Eloise. We sure do miss each other when we are apart.

The final result of last week's hospital stay was basically that the original cultures that grew from our ER visit, grew a bacteria that that may have been a contaminant (i.e. not really an infection in Ethan's line) but in case it wasn't, they wanted to continue a full dose of IV antibiotics. Because Ethan is immunosuppressed, it is too risky to take a chance as any kind of blood infection could be very serious, very quickly.

So, we were sent home on some IV antibiotics that I have to administer in Ethan's line twice a day for 14 days. He continues to be such a trooper and we've done the first few rounds really without any trouble.

We already had Ethan's radiation treatment this morning, and this marks the halfway point of his radiation treatment - 4 down, 4 to go. As I've shared before, and as you can imagine, this is a bit trying for Ethan to have to be sedated every day, but thankfully today things went fairly smoothly. We've been reading a couple of books that Ethan enjoys about the hospital and about a boy with leukemia, in hopes that it helps to normalize all that he has to do and help things not to feel so scary. Today he also had a brand new yellow motorized car waiting for him in the treatment room, which really helped to keep his attention focused elsewhere. There is an organization called Friends with Cancer that helps to provide kids with toys and event tickets as a way to help them cope with all of this stuff - and our yellow car was from them and a very big hit!

This week we have radiation every day at 7am through Friday and chemo at the clinic on Wednesday. We are excited to have Grandma Bonnie back from Minnesota today and are hoping we can stay put at home for a while.

Thanks for all of your prayers!