So today actually turned out to be a bit of a sad day for us as we said good bye to some of the best nurses in the country (and we would know as we have met a lot). It might be a long time before we see any of them again. In typical boy fashion, Eli said good bye by swatting at them with his light up sword or shooting them with his disc gun. Actually, he had hugs for Molly and Chelsey and later called them on his toy cell phone to tell them that he loved them. 🙂 We had so many great nurses here and will truly miss having them take care of (and tease) Eli. There were several nurses that Eli formed big bonds with, so it’s nice to know that they will be able to continue to follow his progress through his CarePages. Who knows, maybe someday we’ll be back in Iowa City under their care going through stem cell transplants after all if 3F8 proves to be ineffective for Eli. For now, we set our sights on 3F8 as the final remedy!
At 5pm tonight, they unhooked his nutrition bag and said, “He’s off the pole until about 9pm tonight.” We took the opportunity to ask if they’d be willing to let us leave the grounds for a few hours and they said yes! Eli had never been to the Ronald McDonald House in Iowa City before, so we took him to see where Lacey and Isaiah have been sleeping at night. We also knew that Coleman and Caden Larson were spending their last night there as Coleman is having his last radiation treatment tomorrow. Coleman and Caden are twins that are about 2 months older than Eli and they are a riot. Coleman is fighting medulloblastoma (brain tumor) and when he and Eli are in the same room, I call them the Blastoma Boys. 🙂
We were given 3 tickets to the Men’s Basketball game tonight and were planning on enjoying at least an hour there, but unfortunately Eli wore out quickly and wasn’t up for going when the time came, so we just returned to the hospital. The Larsons also had tickets, so I hope they had a chance to enjoy the game.
http://picasaweb.google.com/HornIT/BackInIowaCity/photo#5135161720696554498 Here is a slideshow of our time in Iowa City. The majority of the pictures are from the boys playing in the Ronald McDonald House playroom. At one point, Mommy Larson and Mommy Horn left the playroom leaving just the boys to our own devices. I quickly posted a 3 year old guard at each door (there were conveniently three of them) and charged each one with the task of keeping the girls out. It was our very own He-man Woman Haters Club for a few minutes. Coleman and Caden did an excellent job of barring the door shut and yelling “NO GIRLS ALLOWED.” Eli played along well until Lacey’s second attempt at his door. Then he said, “Well, but its ok if mom comes in” and opened the door. 🙂
Thanks to everyone that has been praying diligently for our decision on whether to pursue 3F8 or stem cell transplants. We’d still love to have your prayers next week focused on Round 6 and especially the recovery since it is a repeat of Round 5 and we know how hard that was on Eli. The big prayer after that will be for clean bone marrow so we can go into the 3F8 treatments with NED (no evidence of disease). We so appreciate the concern and support we get from our friends and families. Thanks.