radiation COMPLETE!

You guys!!! What a happy day today! It was Ethan's very last radiation treatment - 8 of 8 now completed and in the books. We have had such great care these last two weeks from all of the nurses, doctors, and anaesthesiologists. Today we were especially blessed to have our favorite anaesthesiologist that took care of Ethan during his very sedation at the beginning of his treatment (the one that was seriously scary due to all the risks related to the mass on his chest). What a blessing to see her again on another big milestone day.

We have also been enormously blessed by an organization called Friends of Kids with Cancer, that has been gifting Ethan each day of his radiation treatment with some awesome gifts (doctor kits, movies, books, toys) that have been a huge help and blessing to him each day he's had to get his sleepy medicine. Check out their website - they do awesome things for kids with cancer here in St. Louis and have been an incredible blessing to us already throughout this journey.

http://www.friendsofkids.com

So today was huge - radiation is DONE!!! And in celebration, he got to ring the bell! - with all of his nurses, the anaesthesiologist, and the rest of us and the waiting room cheering him on. It was a great, great moment. Our boy is so brave. And such a delight. Hooray for Ethan!

We piled in the car and headed home, where Eloise and Daddy (and Betsy) were anxiously awaiting our return and we had another round of hugs and high fives for our brave Ethan!

Thank you for praying for us during these treatments - it is such a joy to be able to celebrate a big milestone like this. We are hoping for a low key weekend to enjoy at home and are scheduled to go back to clinic on Tuesday for two IV chemos and to start a round of oral chemo as well. We learned at our appt this past Wednesday that Ethan's counts are down below 500, and so he is neutropenic right now. He needs to be at 750 in order to be able to start this next round of chemo on Tuesday. Can you please pray that his body would keep making white blood cells to get his counts up? And also that he would stay healthy (along with the rest of us). Especially since he is neutropenic, he is at greater risk for infection since his body doesn't have what he needs to fight off bugs.

We hope you celebrate with us today. Thank you Jesus! Hooray for Ethan!