On November 13, 2010, one year ago today, Collin was discharged from the hospital. As we headed out of our room and made our way down the hall, the nurses threw confetti all over Collin and applauded for him. He had made it through brain surgery, five rounds of chemo, a round of high dose chemo, a stem cell rescue, and veno-occlusive disease. He had survived horrible things I never could have imagined before being thrust into the world of childhood cancer. I felt on top of the world that day we took him home-it was one of the happiest days of my life! Now, a year later, just as I started to let go of some of the nagging fear that is a constant companion in my life, we are having to start the fight all over again. It's so unfair. As I put on the gloves and gave Collin his first dose of chemo Tuesday night, I felt sick to my stomach. But Collin just opened his mouth and took it, with no fussing, no complaining. If he can keep fighting, so can I.
Tomorrow morning we have to be at the hospital at 6:45 am so Collin can receive a new mediport to replace the one that was taken out on October 14. On Tuesday he has speech and occupational therapies. On Wednesday or Thursday we will take him to the barber and have his head shaved to spare him the itchiness of his hair falling out from the chemo. I don't know how he will handle that; he likes to feel the wind blow his hair, and he likes me to blow the hairdryer on his hair when I'm using it on mine. I'm dreading it; I know it will grow back, but I still like to feel his soft hair every day even though it's been back for almost a year. And then on Friday morning we will head to the hospital where he will have another hearing test, be seen in the clinic, and then be admitted back to 7 West for 3-4 days to get the chemo Cytoxan. A few days after that, his immune system will crash, I won't be able to take him anywhere except his medical and therapy appointments, and he'll probably be admitted back to the hospital for another short stay with a neutropenic fever. Normal life is again on hold while we fight this beast with all we have.
The last two weekends have been so much fun! We visited our THON organization on Penn State's Altoona campus last weekend. We had a blast and were spoiled by many wonderful people, but best of all was seeing Neya and Collin have fun just being kids. This past Friday we held a fundraiser in Collin's honor to benefit the Four Diamonds Fund, and we raised $3700! And today we were on Penn State's Main Campus for the THON Family Carnival. I will go into more detail about these great experiences and share pictures in the near future. Right now I am exhausted, and since we have to be at the hospital very early in the morning, I'd better get to bed!
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