Sienna and Joel

 Joel and I finally got to meet Sienna.  She is the cutest thing ever.

She looks just like her dad.

Since I got home, Brianna has come over everyday so that I can hold her and she can go have a nap.

Today Joel went for chemo in Vernon.  He has constant nausea and headaches and is now losing weight.  The doctor decided to hydrate him before sending him home and she wants blood work done again Friday cause his counts are dropping quickly and she thinks he may need more transfusions.  He just got home and he went straight to sleep on the couch.

Stories from Vancouver

If anyone is interested I thought I would share a few blogs from some of the families we have met in Vancouver.

http://noahstolte.blogspot.com

http://samsconqueringofall-goertzens.blogspot.com

This time in Vancouver one of the girls who has been staying at RM House finally got a heart.  She has been waiting almost a year.  Her story was just on CTV about a week ago.  So far the recovery is going very well.

Last Thursday Joel got a pile of chemo.  One of them was a spinal.  He was scheduled to have it done at 8:30 am.  Joel prefers having his spinals done with no pain medication cause he doesn't like the side effects.  There is a 6 year old girl at RM House who is from Salmon Arm and has the same diagnosis as Joel.  She is about one month behind Joel in treatment.  She was scheduled for the same spinal chemo but her appointment was at 8:00 am.  She loves the pain medication they give her.  She said "Mom, you have to try this stuff.  It makes everything feel better".  Then she asked the nurse if she could have some more and if she could have some to take home with her cause she could really use some when she got home.  When the nurse said "no", then she asked if she could have another spinal.  The nurse told her no again because it was Joel's turn next.  Then she asked if she could have another spinal after Joel was finished his.  Those must be some mighty fine drugs!

Last Friday when Joel and I were still in Vancouver finishing up a few last appointments, one of the doctors walked in on Joel throwing up.   It is always a good thing when they can see exactly how he is doing cause when anyone asks him how he is doing, he smiles and says "I'm good".  Anyway, the doctor got into a discussion with one of the nurses just wondering what they could do to make Joel feel better (hydration, transfusions, different meds).  Joel did not want to be hydrated or get transfused cause he just wanted to get home and he didn't want anymore medication cause he doesn't like the side effects. The nurse kept saying that she didn't know what to do for Joel cause she didn't know what was causing him to feel so bad (the chemo or the radiation or being dehydrated or low blood counts or…. or…. or).  And then the doctor said something I have NEVER heard a doctor say before.  He said "Lets be honest here, we did this to him".  Anyway, it made Joel laugh.  They decided to give him a couple of transfusions and it did help a bit.  He also agreed to me drugging him up for the drive home so that he could sleep the whole way so I know he was suffering a lot more than he let on.

He also got another CT scan done to check out what the clot in his brain is doing.  We talked to David on Monday to get the results.  David said it looks way better than he expected it to look at this point.  There is only a skiff where it was.  So that means that Joel only needs the enoxaparin until Friday and then NO MORE NEEDLES twice a day.  He is so excited.