Yummy Clam Chowder...

Yesterday Diane ran out to the stores and Justin went to a friend's house. I had Cody and Daniela for the day. Here are some pretty animated pictures from lunch.








Today we are heading into Georgetown to have Cody's blood work done. They are having a very special guest visiting the kids today and I hope to have some great pictures for you all later.. :D

A good day at home...

It was just me and Cody today. We are looking forward to a great weekend...

Mom, go ahead, give it a try... My mother has wanted to comment for so long but is kinda intimidated by this computer stuff... Give it a try mom...



Just playing some Pirates on dads computer....

Glad to be home...

They are happy to be together again...

Up to speed...

Cody had CT scans today. The results came back as good as we could have expected. The doctor said that the tumor is half the size it was at Thanksgiving. Before, they could not see the major blood vessel that runs through it. Now, she said they can see it very well. What does that mean? At this point we don't know. It is possible that they can remove the tumor but it now depends on if they do it with or without a liver transplant.

It looks like we will be heading to NY next week. We are not sure what day yet but we know it's next week. We also found out that at this point he doesn't have to have his stem cells harvested again. The doctor says they still have enough left from the first time they harvested. He is eating much better now but will still be on IV supplements for a few more days. He should also be coming home tomorrow. It will be nice to get a little time at home before we take that trip. I think the kids are going to have a hard time next week. Even though we spend an extended amount of time at the hospital, there is always one of us at home.

Good night's sleep..

Last night was pretty uneventful. Cody was munching up a storm with junk food until I told him we were going to bed at 11:00. The nurse told me he gained a pound yesterday. That is a big thing... They started giving him supplements through his IV a couple of days ago and he seems to be getting his appetite back so we hope he will gain a little weight back.

He continues to have a very hard time dealing with anger. I continue to have a hard time knowing how to deal with it. I want to be sensitive to his situation but I also want him to know that it is totally unacceptable to act out in such a manner to get what you want. This is a real fine line we are walking here.

We should be getting a clearer picture on what is in store for him. We anticipate that they will be harvesting his stem cells in the next couple of days. There is a real small window when the body produces them. It happens when the body and blood is recovering from chemo. The harvesting process is actually very interesting. The doctor told me that she thinks they can use his central line for the procedure. They hook Cody up to a machine that runs his blood through a tube into the machine. Inside the machine the tube is like a jump rope. There blood runs through the line as it swings around. This process separates the platelets, red blood and stem cells. On the other side of the machine you see three tubes with yellow, red and pink fluid running through it. The yellow and red lines join and mix the platelets back with the red blood as the line returns the blood back to Cody. The pinkish fluid (stem cells) go into an IV bag. The stem cells are now frozen until they are needed. Last time Cody did real well during this procedure. They gave him a drug that made him hallucinate. He was trying to pick and eat the little colored dots off the blanket he was using. Sounds like me in my high school days... LOL.. Anyway, we should soon be heading to New York after this procedure. Then we will find out where we go from there.

Thanks for all the kind words the last few days. This is my way of venting. I may seem scatter brained sometimes but that is only because I am..