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February 26, 2007

By Margot | February 26, 2007

Three little words that put a spring into our step and a smile on our face: SAM IS EATING!! We started Megace on Saturday morning. After we’d gotten the boys new soccer cleats and been up to the park to practice soccer moves, I brought Sam and Andrew with me to the grocery store. All of a sudden, Sam said, “Mom, can I open these bagels now?” Of course, I tore the bag open immediately and handed him a cinnamon and raisin bagel. Then he said, “Can we get a sample of cheese at the deli and a cookie at the bakery? He pretty much has not stopped eating since. He woke up this morning and asked for a grilled cheese and tomato soup for breakfast. He is at school today which is big. He really didn’t want to go much at all last week. I took him on his field trip and he just sat on my lap most of the time and didn’t interact with the other kids a whole lot. It broke my heart a little but I think he was just feeling crappy and he wasn’t eating anything at all. I could see that he just didn’t have much in the tank when he went to play in the park. He came back after a mintue and sat with me. He wanted me to stay with him at school so I volunteered in his class in the mornings on Thursday and Friday (again I do not know how Mrs. Gage keeps a straight face- I really had to stop myself from laughing out loud several times) but Friday when I left he came with me. He just didn’t want to stay. Today he seemed happy to go and he has so much more energy. Also, I’m not sure if it’s because he has more energy or feels better or it’s a side effect from the Megace but he’s been a in a really happy mood.
 We stopped the oral chemo at night which also probably contributes to the better mood and higher energy level. We are going to do a blood draw for a vaccine trial at Texas Children’s so they can grow a vaccine for Sam. He needs not to have his T-Cells depleted for the blood draw (I think that’s right) and therefore needs a little break from chemo. We’ll start the oral Cytox again when we are due for the IV Topetecan (next week). Yuck. I can imagine how Sam feels when he finally feels good. He’s been feeling crappy and his stomach’s been hurting every time he eats for so long that it must be like winning the lottery to feel good. I know that Neil and I have been so sick with worry over his not eating and low energy that when we saw him running around the soccer field this weekend with a smile on his face and filled request after request for more food, we couldn’t stop smiling ourselves. Dr. Willert had said she only wanted to give Megace a week to work because Sam is so thin. She said that if Megace didn’t work, we would try marinol (a version of TCH). I had the fleeting thought that maybe I would give some to Neil too 😉 I’m kidding. I’m kidding. That’s just a little joke.
 
The boys are very excited about soccer. Neil is coaching Sam’s team and Sam can’t stop talking about it. When is the first practice? When is the first game? What will our team name be? Neil got the team uniforms and Sammy wore his jersey all weekend. It doesn’t even have his name on it. Andy is starting soccer this spring too. His team is called The Black Vampires. I don’t they could have picked a better name. Andrew loves to creep himself out by talking about vampires and blood. Andrew had a play date on Friday with his buddy Beau and he had a blast. I came to pick him up and he was dressed in Beau’s Batman costume complete with muscles and was flying down the zip line they have in the backyard. Andrew paradise. Beua has an older sister and she had some friends over as well. Pam (Beau’s mom) told me that the girls were all sitting at the table and Beau came over and said, “Andrew says he does not like girls. They are just too pretty.” I was trying to watch a little bit of the academy awards last night (near to impossible with three children in the room). Andrew saw the women in dresses and he said, “Is that you when you got married, Mom?” He equates fancy dresses with getting married. Then he went and knocked on Mimi’s door for the tenth time time (the poor Adams) to see if she wanted to come over. She said not tonight, she was watching the Oscars and he said, “Oh, well my mom’s watching a show called, Um……Married!” He had his four year check up last weed and is very healthy. I used to take that for granted but not any more. Andy got three shots and the tetantus shot made his arm from his shoulder to his elbow swell up and turn all purpley red. He and Sam had a great conversation about pokeys and how bad they are.
 
Charlie – again I’ll have to start our next update with Charlie so he is not always at the bottom. He is so cute and happy and smiley. He is crawling with his arms only (doing the Army crawl). I got all of the 12-18 month baby clothes out of the garage this weekend. He ‘s only six months and he fit’s into them. At his six month appointment Dr. James said he’s not even on the height chart. He’s grabbing at everything and becoming a very good hair puller. I took him to the hospital with Sam and I on Friday while Andrew was at his play date. Sammy got platelets and was asleep most of the time from the Benadryll pre-med. Charlie charmed all of the nurses. He’s such a people person. They took turns walking him around when they weren’t too busy. Sheila was our nurse and Sammy loves her. Lauren came over and pretended to fight for him and Sam got the biggest smile on his face. They always joke with him that they fight over who gets to be his nurse. Whenever he see Sheila he says, “Where’s Lauren?” and when he sees Lauren he says, “Where’s Sheila?” He likes to see them fight for him. It’s funny. A couple of weeks ago we had a nurse we didn’t know so well and Lauren was doing procedures in the procedure room. Sam said, “Mom, why did Lauren lose the sword fight today?”
 
Neil is off to Vermont for a one day conference in March. He’s very excited about the agenda. He continues to work non-stop on getting new things into the lab.
 
I promise to update more frequently this month. Thanks to Megace and a happier Sam, I’m coming out of my February funk.
 
Margot

Topics: Progress Reports | Comments Off on February 26, 2007

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