For the "Dudes"

I'm not sure why Blogger won't let me download some of the pictures, so I'll just keep trying.

(Standing straight and tall, feet close together, hands clasped loosely behind my back, monotone voice for effect) 

- Caden had a hard night again.  Not like the night before of extreme sleepiness, x-Rays, and falling, but of peeing and pain.  We're happy with the urination- 'ba-bye Chemo and Cancer', not happy with the pain.
- Randy was up with Caden at 0100, 0200, 0300, and 0400.  Stephanie took from 0400 to now.
- Caden's pain spiked from a 2 to a 10 in less than one minute.  He needed two "shots" of Morphine to finally calm him down.  The pain was intense enough for him to repeatedly hit his tumor side.
- The Pain Specialist came in at 0800 to say that she'd watched Caden through the night at home and thinks we should start the pain button again.  We're not going home (discharged) tomorrow.  Maybe Tuesday now, if we can get his pain under control. 
- The Oxycodone causes nausea.  He's got enough of that going on without it.  So, we're going to control the pain with IV and then control it after Chemo has worn off with oral.
- Happy to report that he's off of oxygen since about 0500!!  This is a step in the right direction, for sure.
- ICU stopped coming around for the second time since admittance.  He's been close, but fought it.
- He's almost up to prescription with the feeding tube.  I refuse to say my 12-year old son needs "formula" so I've decided to say it's a milk shake.  The kids loved that!  Who knows, maybe they'll even beg for one as well.  Fashion statement? :)

End of monotone oration!

 

How's that Steve?  Better?  :)  Love ya!

-6:00PM Update-

First round of Chemo is done, peeps!!
May or may not be doing a happy dance!  I'll never tell.  Randy better not either!  Who knows, maybe I'll be a YouTube sensation!  'Cause who doesn't love to laugh?  With tears running down their legs?

It seriously could have been a much worse day.  Thank goodness for nausea patches you put behind your ear.  They saved the day for little Caden!  Love them.  I think we've found our nausea medicine mojo.  There have been times where it's started, but the nurses get right in, stop his milk shake, shoot him up with the three medicines, and he's better within a few minutes.  It's such a blessing to have such advanced medicine.  They say 80-90% of nausea is controlled by just one brand, Zofran.  LOVE this medicine!  And the patch behind his ear.

They said he'd start to feel better in 24 hours and it would take 72 for it to be out of his system.  Counting down the hours till he feels better!!  And then can actually eat.  We had the Elders bring the Sacrament again this week.  He was SO sad that he missed it last week (although he wouldn't have been able to take the bread) so he was pretty excited to be woken to take it.  He had the bread in his stomach for about 2 minutes before he was throwing it right back up.  After he calmed down enough to hold his stomach together he asked, "Did it count?"  Again, he strengthens my testimony by simply being my son.  Since then, he's not been able to keep anything down.  He had to take 5 tiny white pills to pre-medicate for Chemo.  He usually takes them with five sips of apple juice so they don't need to touch his tongue.  We didn't use those pills tonight after he threw up after only 2 pills.  He is just so sick.  Hopefully he's able to eat just one 3.5 oz. Jello tomorrow, that would make me most happy.  And then straight to cheeseburger and fries! 

Things haven't been as peachy as they were before his diagnosis.  Things have been thrown at my little guy faster than any of us have time to understand.  Just 11 days ago we were celebrating Shelby's birth, and now we're celebrating Chemo completion.  How fast our lives can change, how little we have to say about it, how quickly we have to adapt.  I'm so grateful for such a LARGE support group.  People we know and love, people we don't know, but love just the same, New World Systems, everyone!  This has really sucked, it will get worse before it gets better, but with you, we can do it!  We're the luckiest loons (or future dance champions, you choose) in the world.

Someone posted something on Danielle's FB page that has stuck with me all day:

~Sometimes Superheros reside in the heart's of small children fighting big battles.~
Caden is my SUPERHERO!!!

Favorite Moment of the Day:
During one of his more nauseated moments, I tried to distract him by reading some of the worst boy names of 2012.  Here's a sample that actually made him laugh through his struggle.  Remember, these are boy names!
Riot, Rage, Nimrod, Christ, Kingdom, Cloud, Blythe, Farrah, Dijon, Fame, Fortune, Brain, Amillion (Like A Million Dollas), ESPN.  I can't think of anymore right now.  Maybe I'll ask him his favorite when he feels better, just to see if he remembers it at all.  I love to hear Caden's laugh!!