Psalm 121:5

The Lord Himself watches over you. Psalm 121:5

Again, I was spoken to by reading Grant's children's Bible at bedtime last night. God just reminded me through His Word of what He had done for us all day. We are so thankful for all of you that were lifting Grant up to our Heavenly Father and He has proven Himself faithful again.

We spent 12 hours in the emergency room yesterday. Grant had some kind of a neruological episode about 8:00 in the morning. He couldn't stand or walk. His speach was extremely slurred and labored. He was drooling excessively and he couldn't hold his eyes open. The strangest thing is that he didn't know that anything was wrong. He was trying to go on about his morning normally. I called Rudy and he met me at the ER, which was overflowing with people all wearing masks. Rudy and the boys stayed outside and I braved the ER to get a Dr. Thankfully, when I told them we were a hemotology/oncology (H/O) patient, they all jumped into action. They took us to a private room (with a door). You all know how the ER works. From this point, we saw about a million doctors and nurses and we were there all day. They took blood and urine samples and did a CT scan and MRI. Everything came back completely normal! Praise God! Dr. Heym did come to see us in the ER and did a neurological exam and found no deficiencies. After getting all the test results, the conclusion is that this was a side effect of his chemo. Because the chemo he gets through his spinal tap can also bathe the brain, this kind of thing can happen. Dr. Heym said they have seen this, but they have never seen a kid return to normal activity in such a short time (about 30 min.) Praise God! He will continue to get chemo by spinal tap for the rest of his 3 year treatment period. Dr. Heym said the risk of relapse in the spinal fluid outweighed the risk of this happening again, b/c the effect of the episodes is usually reversable.

Grant was so great all day in that tiny little ER room. We got there about 9:30 a.m. and left at 10:30 p.m. They got the results of the CT scan by about noon. But, there was a miscommunication somewhere b/c we asked if Grant could eat and they brought him a bag of cookies. Then, just as he was finishing them, the Dr. came in to tell us the results of the CT scan and that they were going to need to do the MRI. The MRI was going to require sedation b/c Grant had to lay still for an hour. Well, b/c he had the bag of cookies, we had to wait 6 hours for them to get out of his stomach so he could be sedated. That was the worst news of the day! Grant watched movies, colored, read a book, and played with a beenie baby they brought him. The worst part was him begging for snacks all day. They came to get us about 6:45. He did really great with the sedation, but it is always hard to see your child be drugged and put to sleep. Grant was clutching 2 snacks as he went to sleep that he planned to eat as soon as he woke up!

Rudy and I made lots of promises while we were stuck in the ER. We didn't realize it was going to be soooo late when we left. And Grant wanted us to keep them, like eating pizza. Thankfully, I was able to talk him out of the pizza with a Frosty from Wendy's on the way home. Ice cream for dinner! What an awesome mom!! :)

This was one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed. I don't ever want to have to see my child like that again. I keep replaying it over and over, especially since I had to keep telling it over and over to the doctors and nurses. Grant is a tough little boy and God has him in the palm of His hand. Thanks again to all who were praying us through all of this.

www.playnationoftexas.com

The playground that Grant received as a gift was purchased from PlayNation of Texas. Ron & Linda are the owners and have been overwhelmingly kind to us through the process of ordering it and getting it installed. As a reminder, the playground was given to Grant by InsurMark and the installation was donated by Ron and Linda. Their kindness has extended even further. They have offered to give us 5% of any sale that we refer to them, either by word of mouth or just through our blog. If you know of anyone interested in purchasing a playground, please pass this information along. We are absolutely positive that you will have a wonderful experience working with this amazing couple. You can check out their website at http://www.playnationoftexas.com/ or give them a call at 817.284.8054. Just mention Grant when you contact them.
God just continues to bless us over and over and over!!

Belly Laughing

We've stayed busy this week too. Grant started play therapy on Wednesday and it went really great. He goes to the hospital and plays in a "special" playroom with the therapist. We are able to go to an adjacent playroom and wait for him. Hopefully, this is going to be able to help him express his anger and frustration toward his situation in a more acceptable way. He absolutely loved it. He has asked me everyday if he can go play with Ms. Mandy (pronounced Bindy). He will go once a week. Rudy and I also started a Child-Parent Relationship Training class this week. This is also offered by the Child Life department at Cook Children's hospital. It will coincide with Grant's play therapy, so that we can be consistent in using the same techniques and terminology with him at home. I already had the chance to try some of it yesterday and was shocked when it actually worked. :)
Yesterday, we met a new family that moved in across the street. In our short conversation, we discovered that one of their daughters has a rare blood disease. She is being treated by the same doctors at Cook Children's and goes to the Grapevine clinic regularly. It blows my mind every time I think about it. I have to believe that God already knew they were going to move in there when our house was on the market and not selling. I am so thankful that His ways are higher than our ways!
Grant is feeling really good! We had a particularly fun day yesterday b/c Grant kept getting tickled and laughing uncontrollably. It's contagious!

Don't Miss Out!

Today is the last day to order t-shirts. Please email skcs77@yahoo.com with your sizes today if you want to order. Thanks for all of your support!

A Little Loopy

Grant made a visit to the clinic today. He was scheduled for a spinal tap so as soon as we got there he had to take a "loopy" pill. We had a really early appointment so he was eating his breakfast at the clinic. This made taking the pill pretty easy. He just popped it into his mouth and took a bite of cinnamon roll and a big drink. He did have to get accessed for chemo through his port. But, Rudy was able to go with us today, so he got to be the one to hold him down. Grant is still really fighting this.
Then he saw Dr. Heym who said, "I can't believe how well he is sailing through this!" Wow! God is Good! So...the loopy pill...it makes Grant very silly. We have to wait about an hour after he takes it for it to be the most optimal time to do the procedure. So he is gradually unable to walk straight and really acts drunk. Dr. Heym was sitting next to Grant on the exam table after he had checked him. The entire time Dr. Heym was talking to Rudy and I in the exam room, Grant was nudging him with his elbow and making silly faces. Dr. Heym would stop and tickle him or talk to him, but as soon as he started talking again, Grant started nudging again. :) It's pretty funny to watch him get so silly.
The procedure went pretty well. He did jump and scream right when he got poked, but settled down fairly quickly. Child Life is coming to the Grapevine clinic now and was there today, so we are excited about that. Child Life is the group of people that work at the hospital who are trained to work with and distract the children in these difficult situations. Grant also got two drugs through his port. He doesn't like to be deaccessed either, so he kept telling me we were going to take the noodle home with us today. We didn't. All of his numbers were really good today. We are just trying to avoid sick people, which is getting harder and harder. We have all had our flu shots and will become more isolated as Grant's treatment intensifies in the next few weeks.
My mom has resigned from her position at the pregnancy center so she can help for as long as needed. What a blessing she has been! Thanks mom!
Thank you for all of the continued prayers!

Books of the Bible

Grant is learning the books of the New Testament and doing remarkably well. Tonight he listed them like this: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st & 2nd Corinthians, Galations, Ephesians, Flip Flop (Philipians). He was so funny. He just smiled and started over.
Grant has been struggling a little bit with reacting very angrily to normal situations. We think he is just frustrated with his situation and doesn't know how to express it any other way. He knows that home is a safe place and we will love him no matter what. It's hard to know how to balance the fact that he is sick and in a very difficult situation with the fact that we don't want a monster on our hands when this is all in the past. Please pray for wisdom!

COUNTDOWN TO LIGHT THE NIGHT WALK: 22 DAYS
Make sure you sign up for our team if you are planning to walk to make sure you get a balloon to carry. T-shirt deadline: Sept. 23rd.

ONE WEEK LEFT...

Only 1 week left to order t-shirts! The deadline is Sept. 23rd. If you want one and aren't able to walk, I can get it to you. Just go ahead and get it ordered. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone in their shirts at the walk.

http://pages.lightthenight.org/ntx/FtWorth09/GrantsBigAdventure

Rainy Days

Rudy and I went for a short trip to Austin this last weekend. We didn't really have a lot planned....just going to do what we wanted, when we wanted. I think it must have been one of Austin's rainiest weekends on record. It pretty much rained on us from the time we left until we got back. That's ok, we enjoyed our time anyway. We will just have to plan a return trip to Austin and hope for sunnier days. Of course, the boys had a wonderful weekend at Nana and Grandpa's! They got to play in the rain and thought it was a blast.

Keep Praying

Grant's visit to the clinic yesterday was a little rough. I guess we never know what to expect. But everything the nurses did really bothered Grant. He cried excessively and was very hard to control while they did what they needed to do. He got 2 chemo drugs, one of them an increased dose from last time. He also got his flu shot, which was much more traumatic than Trent's was. =) Overall, they did what they needed to do, but it was a lot of work.
Grant checked out great with the doctor and all of his numbers are holding steady. He will go back next Wed. for a CBC and then the following Monday for more treatment. Thank you for all of your continued prayers!

Healthy Trent

Trent went for his 15 month check-up today. He has gone from the 10th percentile for weight to the 15th and from the 40th percentile for height to the 50th. Still not a big guy, although you wouldn't know it if you just looked at his thighs. Nana came and stayed with Grant while I took Trent to the doctor. When Grant asked where we were going, he got very concerned for Trent. He asked if Trent was going to have to have a poke. He wanted to know if it was going to hurt Trent and if Trent would get a band-aid for his tummy. I told him Trent's pokes were going to be in his legs and he would get band-aids. He did not want it to hurt Trent and asked if he was going to cry. I said just for a little bit, but he was a big boy so he wouldn't cry for very long. And he didn't, just until the nurse started blowing bubbles for him. I thought it was really sweet that Grant was so worried about Trent and really sympathized with him.

We also tried to take advantage of the coolest part of the day and enjoyed breakfast outside this morning. The boys thought that was fun.

Dinosaur Tracks

We've been on the go. Grant's energy level has not seemed to decrease at all. We went hiking at the dinosaur park in Glen Rose on Saturday. When I told him we were going to go to the dinosaur park, he looked a little concerned and then, very calmly, asked me if they were going to chase us and eat us. Once we got that straight, he was excited about going. Grant hiked so hard for about 45 min. and then he hit a wall and couldn't go any farther. Thankfully, we anticipated his decline and were almost back by the time he got tired. He only had to ride on Grandpa's shoulders for a short time. He got a second wind when we made it to see the statues of the dinosaurs. We couldn't believe how well he did. It was a pretty tough hike for a 3 year old and he handled it like a champ. He was loving it too. No complaining, except that he didn't want to hold anyone's hand. Rudy carried Trent in a backpack. We thought he would go to sleep, but he was a trooper too. We all had a really good time.

Reminders

LIGHT THE NIGHT WALK COUNTDOWN: 38 DAYS
Hope to see you there!

The deadline for ordering t-shirts is Sept. 23rd!