A GREAT WEEKEND

We checked out of our Air BnB on Friday, and we were sad to say goodbye. It was a fun house with a lot of space for the boys to play, and it will forever be known as “the birthday house.”

Caleb also had an appointment at St. Jude on Friday. We were hoping we would get the all clear to start Cycle 4, however his counts were just a little low and just shy of meeting the criteria to move on. So our doctor said he would like us to come in on Monday to check Caleb’s counts again. He was not at all worried, and said that with each round of chemo it takes the body a little longer to recover so this is totally normal. He did not need any transfusions, we just have to wait for his counts to get a little higher, especially his platelet count.

Caleb also had a hearing test on Friday. They monitor his hearing very closely because of the damaging effects that the chemo can have. He likes these appointments because they make it like a game where he gets to throw a toy in the bucket every time he hears a beep. Isn’t he just adorable in those big head phones!

The rest of the weekend we spent enjoying the last couple days of our friends and family being in town. Despite some of Caleb’s blood counts being down, his ANC jumped way up (1530!) so it was safe for him to get out and do some fun things. On Saturday we went to lunch at one of our favorite BBQ places, went bowling, and then went to the movies to see Dumbo. Bowling was so fun because it has been SO long since we were able to do that. The boys loved it and also loved that the bowling alley had arcade games to play. We all had a great time and just for a minute it felt like “normal life”, with all our friends and family around. It was great!

We also enjoyed the gorgeous weather on Sunday. It was about 50 degrees and sunny and the boys loved being outside! Everyone enjoyed being in the cool weather and sunshine and playing with the boys.

But saying goodbye was extra hard because we probably won’t see our friends Don and Myra until we move back home. I am not sure when I’m going to see my mom and Bruce next either. It’s been so nice having everyone around and I know I will be sad this week that everyone is gone. Having everyone here to celebrate Caleb’s birthday meant so much. I’ll never forget how special Caleb felt, and all the memories we made. You should hear him talk about being 4! He feels like such a big boy now! And Don and Myra used a whole week of their vacation time from work to be here with us. There are a lot of other places I’d rather vacation than Memphis Ha ha! So it meant the world to us that they chose to be here to spend time with us and celebrate Caleb. I spent the whole weekend just thinking about how lucky we were that we all got to be together, and that Caleb felt good for his party, and that we somehow in the midst of all this we managed to throw him a real birthday party (with Batman and Captain America!!!). It makes me so happy to think about how it all worked out.

I can’t believe we have been in Memphis since September and tomorrow is April 1st. I’m so proud of how far Caleb has come and how comfortable we’ve become with this whole process. We go back to St. Jude tomorrow and hopefully Caleb’s platelet count will be high enough for us to start Cycle 4. We are starting the 4th month of the year… Caleb turned 4… and we are at Cycle 4… I feel like the numbers are all their for it to happen (fingers crossed!!!)