Saturday, April 23rd-Tuesday 26th, 2011

PICS: On saturday the nurse brought me some cars to play with, I had frosted flakes, got to see my siblings, they brought me some balloons and toys, played with the blinds, had surgery, and was bouncing off the walls from my oxycodone

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Mom's facebook notes, page 4: Saturday was a good day. I was excited that Tyson was going in for surgery cause my mom and sister brought the kids up and I got a chance to be with them while he was in surgery. I wasn't really nervous for his surgery because two of my daughters have had surgery recently so I knew what to expect and I felt peaceful. The anesthesiologist was really good, and they gave him a sedative before they took him back so he wasn't scared or anything. The procedure lasted about an hour so I got to chat with my kiddies for a while before I went back to sit with him while he woke up. When he woke up he wasn't sad at all, he just saw me and hugged me and I got in the bed with him and we rode back up to his room. He was starving of course cause he couldn't eat that morning so he had a bowl of honey nut cheerios and some oxycodone for the pain and finally got the IV taken out of his hand. He was happy about that and happy that his siblings brought him some balloons and toys. He had a little collection of balloons by the time we left the hospital, they were one of the things that comforted him when he was tired or not feeling well, he would hold onto all of the strings of the balloons. My mom sat with him for a while so i could go out in the hall and hang out with the kids. Ryan kept saying he had an earache and I wasn't sure what to do about that. We were trying to decide if my sister was going to take him down to the ER and sit there with him forever, or try to find an urgent care center or what. We didn't really have any good options, and I had no way of getting him anywhere since i had to stay there with Tyson. There was a gathering of people out in the hall celebrating-I learned later-a bone marrow transplant. The mom of the recipient noticed that Ryan was crying and told my sister Kim who was out in the hall with them at the time that her pediatrician was there with her and wondered if we wanted him to look at his ear. Kim came and got me and the doctor went out to his car, got an otoscope, looked in his ear, said it was about to burst and walked down to the pharmacy to order some pain meds and amoxicillin. He gave me a piece of paper with his pager number on it in case I needed him. What a miracle!! I knew immediately that this was an answer to my prayers and that Heavenly Father was going to watch over me and my kids while we went through this new experience. The oncologist who did his surgery came to talk to me while my mom and kids were still there so I fed the baby while she told me about the spinal and the marrow aspiration, told me that they didn't find any leukemia cells in his spinal fluid (yay!), told me how happy she was to see the top surgeon of the hospital putting in Tyson's port, and explained to me all the details of the study in case I wanted Tyson to be a part of it. She was awesome and answered all of my questions. I think her name was Dr. Afyfy. Tyson was super happy while he was on the oxycodone. When it started to wear off, he wasn't super happy anymore. They started his chemo on Saturday after I signed all of the papers for the study. They also started the dexamethasone sp? which is a steroid that enhances the effectiveness of the chemo, increases his appetite, and makes him super moody. This day I started to recognize all of the ways we are blessed and all of the ways Heavenly Father prepared us to be able to deal with this. I was able to take it all in and know that it was something we could do and make it through. I was still praying a lot, and whenever I wasn't tending to Tyson, I was reading all of the nice messages and comments people were sending me on facebook. That means a lot to me, and gave me something uplifting to do. It is definitely hard to keep a three year old entertained in a hospital room, especially when suddenly he was feeling great because he was on oxycodone. Saturday afternoon he finally had a nap about the time my sister Melissa and her husband brought me some dinner and chatted for a while. That was super nice to have a break and chat with some peoples who have been through this before. :) Sunday morning Tyson was super grouchy when the nurse was checking his vitals and stuff...until she brought him an Easter basket from the hospital.:) Sunday his mood was super happy and super mad back and forth all day long. Brady and the kids came and he got to come out in the hall with his mask on and say high to everyone. Brady stayed with us the rest of the day and Tyson had another long afternoon nap so we were able to talk to each other, the nurse, and the oncologist and sort of get Brady up to speed with everything. He was super mad when he woke up though, and started yelling at me whenever I breathed on him. :) My sisters Kim and Sarah came to visit with their husbands and bring us dinner and he was a little monster the whole time they were there...until the very end when i force fed him some oxycodone. Suddenly the old Ty Ty came out right when they were leaving and they got a glimpse of his happy side. :)

 Monday was more of the same. Brady took the other kids and they toured some things in Salt Lake and went to the Olive Garden and then came to see us again. I got to chat in the hall with the kids for a while again which was nice. Tuesday he was given his one time dose of a certain chemo drug called PEG-somethingorother and they watched him to make sure he didn't have any bad reactions to that. After that we just wrapped up all the discharge stuff, got his meds from the pharmacy, had his ear checked by the resident (yep, ear infection) got some more meds from the pharmacy for that and we were finally on our way home!!! YAY! We were so excited to get home and just be a family for a while and let Tyson chill in the comfort of his own home. We came home to a super clean and sanitized house, and dinner in the fridge, thanks to my visiting teachers, who along with neighbors and friends, and my sister and bro and their spouses, cleaned and cleaned. That was AWESOME to walk into a clean house, cause I certainly hadn't left it that way. ;) In the next couple of days I held Tyson a lot, and in the mean time installed 7 hand sanitizer dispensers throughout the house (3M avagard is awesome) and we all started our new routine of being super clean and careful. They told us that hand washing is his best defense, that we can't protect him from everything, especially because a lot of the infections he might get will come from bacteria in his own body, but that we should be as clean and cautious as we can. They told us to expect to be in the hospital for at least two days if he gets a fever. :( They showed us how to read the numbers on his blood test and that if his ANC count is below five then we need to be extra cautious. It was at zero when we left the hospital and was still at zero at his first appointment last Friday so we are still at a situation where we don't take him places and don't allow child visitors. Other than that life is back to as normal as possible and we'll take one day at a time. We have really appreciated all of your thoughts, fasting and prayers, cards, dinners, treats, and well wishes.
Feel free to ask questions if you have em and know that we still love y'all, we just can't see people as much right now. :) Each day we realize a new way in which we are blessed and were prepared for this and we are ready to tackle it and be happy all at the same time. We feel peace and are thankful for the Source of that peace. Brady leaves Saturday (May 7th) and we are so thankful he was able to come home and be with us for a while and figure all of this out. He will be home the middle of September. (Yay!) We are super thankful for his job and the benefits that come with it. Life is good! :)