Well, unfortunately I’m posting this from the Urgent Care Facility at Sloan. Eli definitely had a rough afternoon. Lots of throwing up and a sick stomach. They kept giving him anti nausea medication, but this chemo is pretty potent stuff. The kid is so great though, he always says, “Dad, if I had to throw up, what would I throw up in?” In Eli speak, that means “You have 10-30 seconds to get me a bucket or this is going everywhere.”
The last one nailed his Spiderman costume, so an emergency trip to the Playroom was made where they had about 2,304 kids costumes they were giving away for free. 1 Spiderman and it was for an 8 year old. 🙂 He wasn’t really up for it anyway. We went into Stewart and Barbara’s apartment to sit down and meet the families that were there and discovered that everyone was Neuroblastoma. It’s just so weird to see 4 little boys together all with Neuroblastoma when you are so used to hearing about how rare this cancer is. With so many of them coming to Sloan, it’s not so rare around here! Eli threw up while we were all there (I was prepared with a bucket this time), and it was funny to hear every single parent in the room instantly react the same way, “It’s ok, buddy, you’re doing great.” It wasn’t even their kid, but every single one of them had been there before at one point (or at many points) with their kids and reacted instinctively. He let me carry him around the apartment with the other kids for a little while, but then wanted to go back to the apartment and lay on the couch for a while. He threw up one more time at the apartment and when we got back to the RMcD House, he threw up twice more as I tried to get him to take his anti-nausea medicine.
Since he couldn’t take his anti-nausea medicine and kept throwing up, we ended up making a trip to the Urgent Care facility at 9pm so they could push some meds through his “pipes” (or as every nurse in Sloan calls them, his “tubies”) so he could get some rest tonight before we report back at 8am tomorrow. It’ll take about an hour, so we’re looking at heading back to the RMcD House around 12:30am or so.
I didn’t really have time for a full meal today, but I can still come through with a review. They had pizza in the playroom from Famiglias, an Italian joint on 1st Avenue between the RMcD House and Sloan. I can give an opinion beyond today’s slice of pizza (which was cheese so it was kid friendly and as non offensive as you can get) because Lacey and I have eaten there several times before. The pizza was really good and you can watch them throw the dough up in the air by the big window when they prepare it. My favorite menu item is the Calzone. The bread pocket is pre baked and ready for the ingredients to be thrown in when you order it, then they throw it in the oven for a bit and it’s ready to go. Lacey and I both really like the “garlic knots” that you can get for $.20 each as well. I think the Calzones were like $5, so definitely good eats for a good price. Plus it’s 2 doors down from good sushi!
http://picasaweb.google.com/HornIT/NewYorkCity/photo#5121741166564651122 From New York City
Thanks to everyone who left voicemails. We certainly had a barrage of them today and he loved every one. It took FOREVER to get through them all, but it was worth it when his eyes lit up at the computer screen and he said, “Dad, look at all of those arrows! Are those all voicemails for me? How many are there, anyway?” 🙂