One More Surgery Part II

Today was Cash's first platelet transfusion.  I had no idea what platelets looked like and forgot to take a picture but if you've ever seen or drank hefeweizen beer you would think that is exactly what they gave him today.  The transfusion lasted two hours and my mom and Auntie Geri were there to keep Cash company - the transfusion chairs are a bit big for little kids but we made it work:

 

He didn't sit there by himself the whole time but I took this pic to give some perspective of how big cancer is to little ones.  

We were then notified this afternoon that his ANC's are high enough that they are ready to harvest his good stem cells on Saturday, but first he has another surgery at 2:00 tomorrow to install a port/line in his leg.  They will use that line to filter blood to collect the stem cells from his Hickman to a machine and back into his temporary port on Saturday.

We'll be staying at the hospital tomorrow night after the surgery as they prepare for the stem cell collection - We have no idea how long that will take but my guess is between 6-8 hours.  I've said it before but it begs repeating - the doctors have been great at not telling us all of this in the beginning, further re-iterating the 'one day at a time' mantra.

Jack Jr. will be departing tomorrow with his Uncle Dean, Aunt Jen, Dillon, and Kendra to the state basketball tournament in Yakima.  He will clearly have more fun that us and that is a good thing - Jack Jr. has been amazing through this process.  He still won't touch Cash's scar and he still tells me it scares him but it's healing tremendously and will be fairly unnoticeable in the next week or so.  Jack is a self-taught sword fighter so I'm surprised he's afraid of anything of late...:-)

So by this Saturday we'll have been at the hospital every day since Monday and next week we have 6 or 7 appointments and we'll start the second round of chemo on Friday (next week).  One day at a time, one day at a time, one day at a time we keep reminding ourselves.  I am convinced that God is teaching us what Jesus really meant in the Lord's prayer when we are to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread."  I am thankful to God for continuing to carry us through this journey and as Solomon writes in Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding."

Please pray for a successful surgery and a more successful stem cell draw, that when they give the stem cells back to Cash during 'phase 2' that they replenish his body of what he needs to continue to fight.  Thank you as always for your support and prayers!