No Crying?!

Wow! You would not have even believed that it was Grant at the clinic today. I was hoping that today would be a good day after we had a very successful cream application at home. I just told him it was time to go and we need to get his cream on. He walked over with no fussing and we took his shirt off. We were laughing and being silly and he just calmly walked away. I asked him where he was going and he said he was "running away" b/c he doesn't like cream. Then he started laughing and came back. We put the cream on and then he said the sticky was going to hurt. I told him if he would stand still I could fix it where it wouldn't bother him so much. That's exactly what he did and he was off to get in the car. Usually, after the cream is on, it renders him paralyzed. He, all of a sudden, cannot do ANYTHING b/c he "has cream on". Not today. He did everything like he normally does with no cream.
He always has mixed feelings about going to the clinic. He enjoys seeing all the people, but he does not want a poke. When we got ready to access his port, not only was he not crying, he was talking and laughing. Right when she went to poke him he gasped and that was it. It was amazing! He was so excited he jumped down to run out of the room when the nurse was finished and ran smack into an exam tray. He busted his head really hard and was very embarrassed, so now begins the screaming crying. It was terrible that he had done so well and then ended up crying anyway. He has a knot on his head. Dr. Heym was glad he didn't have to do stitches.
So anyway, his check-up went well. His counts were okay, but his ANC had dropped a lot. It was 580, which is the lowest it has been since he started maintenance. It has to be over 500 to continue full chemo, so we are still on schedule. Dr. Heym said he may have been battling an infection but, hopefully, the steroids this week should give him a boost. He also got chemo in his port. He wasn't feeling very well when we got home this afternoon and was happy to take some anti-nausea medicine. But, it is so amazing that he never lets it get him down.
Thanks for all of your continued prayers!!

NRH2O

We got to go have wonderful day at the water park today. Grant was so excited this morning, he couldn't get there fast enough. It was 104 today, so a great day to be in the water all day. The boys loved it! We all had a really great time. It's always nice to see Grant participating in things just like all the other kids.

Grant's Thoughts

We recently returned from our trip to Hot Springs, AR that we take every year with my family. It was a shortened version b/c Granny is back in the hospital and Rudy was unable to go. That said, I spent quite a bit of time in the car with the boys. Apparently, Grant had a lot of time to think. These are a couple of the things we talked about.
I was telling him that he had been to Hot Springs before, but he was only 2 and Trent was a tiny baby, so he probably didn't remember. We didn't get to go last year. He thought for a while and then asked, "Is Trent going to have to get sick with leukemia and go to the hospital when he's 3?" Of course I replied with "I hope not!" He said, "then why did I have to get sick when I was 3?" Wow, that's a great question! I don't know, but I'm sure glad God is taking care of you and getting rid of that leukemia.
At one point during our drive Grant asked me where heaven was. I said it was with God. I said that the great thing about heaven is that nobody is sad or hurt or sick, etc. Doesn't that sound great?! Very sadly he said, "so I can't go to heaven b/c I'm sick." I was so broken-hearted I didn't even know how to respond. I told him that of course he can go to heaven and when he gets there he won't be sick ever again.
Conversations like this give me a small glimpse of his perspective. It's so hard to know he is dealing with all of this at a such a young age. I am just so proud of him and pray that God uses him to do amazing things.