Lines Out, Port In

The past two days have been a whirlwind - Yesterday Cash had his surgery to remove his hickman lines and have a port (or port-a-cath) put in.  As usual, the surgery didn't happen on time - we arrived at 12:15 and they didn't start the surgery until 3:00.  We woke Cash up early (5:30) that morning and fed him pancakes, sausage, and his usual chocolate milk (he doesn't like regular milk anymore...) because he wasn't able to eat until after the surgery. 

At around 5:00 we were able to see him in recovery and while he was groggy, he downed 8 ounces of milk immediately and minus throwing up in the car on the way home, he did very well.

Today he had his first spinal tap with the methotrexate.  They had to put him to sleep briefly for the procedure and since it was the first day of school, Wendi, my mom, and dad were there while Joanne was at home taking care of Kingston.  Then at 2:30 we met with the radiation oncologist, Dr. Douglas, and we talked about the upcoming gamma knife procedure that will be done on the new spot in the right temporal lobe.

The gamma knife procedure is very interesting - they shoot 129 beams of radiation from all around his head into the tumor location and they don't really 'activate' until the beams cross each other, which will be precisely on the spot of the tumor.  They don't anticipate too many risks to his right eye, although there is the potential of swelling.  The gamma knife procedure will be a week from next Tuesday and it takes basically a full day.

We couldn't have done it the past few days without tremendous help - many thanks to Megan, Joanne, and my mom and dad - they babysat, went to appointments, cooked dinner, cleaned the house, and everything else in between.  I have had to be at work since it's the start of school so they picked up tremendously while I have been in and out.

We're still hopeful that the methotrexate and low-dose chemo's (which start on Monday) will keep the tumor at bay - Cash still is doing well and we're so thankful for each day we have and now that his lines are out, we'll be able to go swimming and he can take a bath for once without a big patch over his lines and our cautious watch on any tiny drop of water that could infiltrate the spot.

God continues to bless us during this trial and we are are grateful for His grace and mercy on Cash and our family.  Thank you for continuing to support and pray with us and to God be the glory!!!