New Port Is In

Troy had his new port placed today. Everything went smoothly and we both got a little nap in after our 3:30 am start for the day. They placed the new port on the left side since he has had a blood clot in the old right sided location. He is starting to get pretty sore from the procedure (normal) and he now has a small ooze under the dressing from the blood thinners he is on (not so normal, so I'll keep an eye on it.) I may have to run up to the hospital to get extra dressings and change everything myself tom. We will see if the ooze persists. It is nothing life threatening but it doesn't exactly encourage good wound healing either. I just wanted to give everyone a quick update.
Troy is going to start doing a little work from home tom. so please pray for strength and restraint (I can see Troy pushing too hard too fast). Also pray for quick healing and good pain control. Troy went with Grayson and I to Meijer yesterday for a small grocery run. He was exhausted when we got back but he did it. He is making progress with his abdominal incision and the pain associated with that. Now he needs to work on his stamina. I will try to get him out of the house again tom. - Pray for me! :)
Alicia

Chunky Monkey

Grayson had his two week check up yesterday. He is also off the growth curve, just like Gavin, but on the other extreme. Grayson now weighs 10 lb 12oz! He gained a full pound in a week and half and has grown 1 1/4 inches since birth! The kid does not miss a meal. The doctor was happy with his development and says he will pass Gavin in a couple months :)
Troy is scheduled for his port placment tom. morning at Parkview. It should only take a couple hours an he'll be home. He is scheduled for chemo to start on March tenth. He is feeling better, both belly and chest and hopes to go back to work on Mon. for partial days. It has been so nice to have him home with me and the kids but I know it will be nice for him to get back to a "normal" routine for at least a week or two before chemo starts. I'm so proud of all he's been through and his work ethic.
We got back to church on Sun. It was fantastic! It was a bit of a mess getting the new family there on time but we made it and it felt so good to be home. Everyone was so welcoming to Troy and made efforts to stop by and welcome him back - that meant a lot to him. The music and sermon were great and for those of you that attend Pathway you know how great the tithe song was. Troy's belly hurt from laughing so hard. God knew exactly what our souls needed.
Pastor Ron stopped by late last week and helped give sound advice and encouragement to both Troy and I. That helped a lot. We are so blessed to have our families, church and friends - they help us through the roughest spots and make the bright spots even brighter. We are looking forward to a few good days ahead before chemo starts.
God Bless!
Alicia

Doctors Appointments for All the Boys

This past week has been busy for us. Grayson had a great first check up at the doctor and was close to his birth weight before he was one week old. He goes back next week for a two week check up and we'll see where he sits on the percentile charts. He slept from midnight to 5:15 last night which was heavenly. Gavin normally doesn't wake up from Grayson so that is another blessing! I feel like Grayson is growing so fast and already changing, it makes me sad. Life in general feels like a freight train and everyday is one blow after another - we're just trying to survive.
Gavin went to the doctor for his 18 month check-up. I was sure he was starting to gain on the percentile scale and catch up with some of his peers....not so much. He only weight 21.4 # which drops him below the 5th percentile. His length and head remained at 25th percentile. I don't know what else I can do to help him get some meat on his bones. The doctor said everything looked good developmentally and we would just watch his weight and see if he continues to drop. Poor little guy, he is going to be passed up by his brother in another year.
Troy visited his oncologist yesterday. He was really happy with the reports from Cleveland regarding 0 lymph nodes with cancer in them. There was evidence that cancer had once been there by little puddles of secretions left in the large bowel but no active cells in the lymph nodes. With this information the doctor said Troy can be considered in remission now but we won't know if he is cured for another 5 years. If rectal cancer is going to reoccur it will most often happen within 5 years. After that you're prognosis is pretty good. Troy will still have to have the intense chemo and we now know it will be for 5 months, not 4 like we thought. This sucks... no way to put it better. Troy will have his port placed in 1 week and start chemo in 3 weeks. The regimen is 2 hours of infusion at the hospital then they hook him up for 46 more hours of home infusion. He then gets 12 days off and starts again for a total of 10 treatments. So our big blowout party will have to wait till August. Gavin will think it is a party for him!
Troy may have also popped some cartilge in his chest which is giving him a lot of pain right now so add that to the list of prayer needs.
Right now I'm tired, overwhelmed and frankly a little depressed with life. When my husband, infant and toddler are all hurting and or crying it is a little hard to take. I know many of you want to help and believe me you are but I also feel like at some point I need to take responsibility for my own life and my own children. I have to figure out how to handle it all because I won't always have a babysitter nor will I always want one. I know this is all in God's plan and so I try to pray and give it up to him and ask for strength. Most of the time I get it, but not all the time - then you can add me to the list of people crying in this house.
Please don't stop praying. We really need it.
Alicia