JimBob I am so sorry to hear of this. Your family and your grandson will be included in mine and Jo Ann's prayers.....
Bye the way what is your Grandson's name?
mike
Thanks all, he is Evan.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers .
Seems like years now, but it was only a week ago Monday that Evan was diagnosed with Leukemia. By Tuesday he was 2 ½ hours from home in the Oklahoma City Children’s’ Hospital.
It is really tough on a four year old kid to be connected with hoses and needles to a machine on a pole 24 hours a day. Besides fluids, there were constant rotations of steroids, antibiotics, nausea meds along with blood transfusions and many assorted doses of all kinds of toxic meds. These were just the “side-show” after the spinal taps and digging into his hip bone to pull out bone marrow.
His parents stayed on a fold out bed next to him day and night. Of course they didn’t get a single night of sleep the entire time due to the alarms going off every ten minutes. I guess a four year old just doesn’t cope with “holding still” and tends to tangle his lines and such, which causes the feeds to clog with blood clots. That requires special meds to unblock and in a lot of cases the removal and re-inserting of the “prick”…
The initial attack on the cancer was enough poison to put down a horse. He had a large growth pressing on his lung and airway. His parents were warned that his condition was so severe that putting him under for initial spinal tap may result in lung collapse and even death. Not exactly what any parent wants to hear a day after learning their little boy has cancer. I did my best to watch Evan and give them much needed breaks just to leave this prison hell for brief periods.
Personally, I had about lost faith in people in general. This experience really opens one’s eyes. There are so many dedicated doctors, specialists, and nurses, and aides giving everything they have to heal these precious little children. GOD Bless those people. The other realization was all the support given by many individuals, companies, corporations, etc. I stayed in a room right there in the hospital, donated by the wealthy parents of a child who lost this battle. Her name was Ally. I guess they really understood how something like this could be so amazing to others faced with this battle. The first night there, all the Ronald McDonald rooms were full, so some generous party put me up for the night in a motel a few blocks from the hospital. The gifts of compassion were overwhelming in a time of crisis.
Nothing can possibly be worse than watching this stuff happen to little kids, and not just your kids, but every little child on that 10th floor cancer ward fighting just to live another day. One little girl who had just barely begun to walk was out taking a walk holding her mom’s hand and dragging the pole along the corridors. She looked at me and just gave me the biggest smile. The precious little one was released for home on Saturday. It’s just the beginning of a 3-4 year struggle.
Evan was released Sunday and we made the 2 ½ hour journey home. Of course, he had to return on Tuesday for more of his blood to be analyzed. This is necessary to make sure he has enough platelets to survive the spinal tap and more bone marrow extraction on Wednesday morning (today), We just got home again and this trip will have to be taken once a week for a while. Once the cancer is smacked down, he will have a surgery to implant an IV like device under the skin in his chest. The current IV from his arm to his heart will come out at that time. The under-skin port will have to stay at least a year after the first three years of chemo.
All of us were put up at the Ronald McDonald house for the return visit. Falling asleep a little after lunchtime, the phone in the room awoke us at 6:00. It was a group of ladies from a local church telling us our supper was ready. A nice home style meal sure beats hospital cafeteria food. Different families and groups take turns bringing in supper for all the guests at the Ronald McD house. All I can say is “GOD Bless America” and all the good folks who make the efforts to give to all the parents facing a child’s nightmare.
Even is showing incredible response to treatments. He is one tough little man, just like his dad. The terrible side effects of chemo are just starting to set in though. It’s just going be rougher for a while to come yet. My son and wife have a major battle on their hands. Pray for them as well.
I’ll be here till they get sick of grandpa…
JimBob
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Topic: please send prayers (Read 10001 times)