School Tomorrow!!

Tomorrow we start school - how depressing that the summer is over. The boys and I went on Friday to their open house, where they met their teachers. I have a great first impression of their teachers. I had met Jamey's teacher last year, and he's lovely. We had a good meeting, and I know that this will be a great year for him. The other boys have first year teachers; both seem enthusiastic and nurturing. I'm sure that they will each have an excellent year.

Jamey's had an okay week - we think that the chemo is catching up with him. He was a bit tired and nauseous on Friday and Saturday. Today he had a great day, though. He spent the day with some of his closest friends - here and at the pool. His friends have a great knack for making Jamey forget that he doesn't feel well.

On Wednesday night my sister-in-law and niece and nephews came up and we went to dinner with them. It was really nice to see them, and they're coming up again tomorrow night. Jamey also spent that night at his friend, William's house, and had an awesome time. I think this is the 2nd time he's slept over another house since we found out about his leukemia. It's so difficult to let him go, but I know that I have to let him be a kid.

We went to the farm for the day yesterday - my aunt and cousins were there. It was wonderful to spend time with them and my parents. We had a great water fight with Bob (my step-father). Jamey was tired, but he really enjoyed going. We all wish we could've spent more time with them.

Tomorrow Jamey finishes the consolidation phase of his leukemia treatment. It's hard to believe that we've gotten through this much already - it's gone by so slowly and quickly at the same time. We will have a better idea of when he will actually start the next phase when we get his blood counts from tomorrow. Because he hasn't been feeling well, we think his blood counts must be down right now. He will be able to start the next phase when his ANC (basically the body's ability to fight infection) rises above 750 (a normal person has 5,000+). His history has been that it takes three weeks, but we don't know if he'll follow that. As I think I've said, this next phase will put him in the hospital for several days every other week for eight weeks. That is going to be really tough on Jamey because he HATES going to the hospital. It has all sorts of bad memories for him. My mom ordered him some books he really wants to read, though, and we hope that will cheer him up. We will take him in on Friday mornings, and hope that he will come out by Monday. My guess is that this will start on the Friday of Rosh Hashanah. Either that or Yom Kippur. We just hope that he won't have to be in the hospital when David is doing his 100 mile ride. Soon, though, I'm sure we'll see a light at the end of this tunnel . . .

Thanks for reading -