RECOVERY

It seems as though now that we have hit the end of the 3rd cycle, Caleb’s body is taking a little longer to recover each time. This is to be expected after it’s been hit this hard, but it’s still amazing that most days you can’t tell by the way Caleb is acting. Most days he still has so much energy and loves to play.

Since my last update, during our unexpected middle of the night transfusions, we did finish up around 9am and go home Friday morning. Caleb and I were both wiped out and luckily he rested and I slept most of the morning. We both needed it after being so scared and having our sleep interrupted. Most of Friday was pretty low key because we were both worn out!

Saturday Aunt Myra and Uncle Don came to town!  I’m so thankful Caleb was feeling better because they all played so hard! Tyler and Caleb don’t let them rest because they know they are full of fun games like hide-n-seek!

After playing a while the adults escaped for a child-free evening to celebrate James’ bday. We couldn’t forget about celebrating his birthday because he does so much for our family. We wanted to make him feel special! We went to dinner and then went to explore Beale Street for the first time. It was definitely interesting. It reminded us a lot of New Orleans because the street is open container and there are windows you can walk up to to order large drinks. We spent most of the time at the Irish Pub where we sat on the patio and listened to an awesome band while a bunch of crazy people danced. The people watching was a win for sure! I’m not sure I’ll ever go back down there but it was definitely a fun and memorable experience!

Sunday we got to sleep in since Grandpa and Grebbie were still babysitting (THAT WAS AMAZING!!!). We then had to get to St. Jude for a 2pm appointment to check Caleb’s counts. We were hoping that after the transfusion early Friday morning he wouldn’t have to have another one on Sunday. Unfortunately since his body is having a little bit of a hard time recovering this cycle he did have to have another transfusion Sunday afternoon. After receiving both blood and platelets we finally left St. Jude around 10pm. Between Friday and Sunday that was a lot of time sitting in St. Jude for one weekend! I was glad to have a break on Monday with no appointments!

Early Tuesday morning we went back to St. Jude to check counts again. We were thrilled to get the results and his counts are coming up so no transfusions were needed today! We are happy that Caleb is starting to recover and it seems like this weekend we will be able to start Cycle 4!!! Cycle 4 out of 5!!! We are so excited to keep on moving toward finishing up treatment and going home!

And since tomorrow is Caleb’s birthday, his doctors and nurses celebrated today by singing him happy birthday, giving him balloons, and a really sweet card! It was a very special moment and I love that the staff that takes care of him knows how important birthdays are too!

Tomorrow, March 27th, is a most very special day…Caleb’s birthday!!! Even though we have to celebrate in an unconventional way this year, we have many surprises in store for Caleb tomorrow. I can’t wait to share them and report back on how his day went. I can’t believe my little guy is turning 4, but I am also so grateful for him to see this day. We all know how special it is, and we are pulling out all the stops to make this birthday one of the most memorable!