Fun while it lasted

I have to say that the past couple of weeks have been great. We slipped into our normal routines of every day life, put the past behind us, and tried hard not to think of the near future. As you can tell, the past couple of weeks have been relatively calm, with some notable, positive, exceptions.

First of all, Nick is doing really well. He has lost a fair amount of weight, but he seems to be putting some of that back on. We are trying hard to bulk him up before he goes in for his chemo treatments, so it is lots of potatoes, pasta and fried foods (needless to say it is not helping me any, although Deb seems to be able to show more restraint).





Last week, the children at Shamona Creek Elementary School held a community service day where many of the children sewed pillowcases from fabric that they picked out. These pillowcases are then donated to Children's Hospital for kids who have extended stays in the hospital. The organization is call Con Kerr and was started by a mom who sewed pillowcases for her child when she was in the hospital. She then began sewing them for other children and so it began. When nick was in CHOP for his surgery, he received a couple of pillowcases himself and he still has them. I was not there during the school day, but from what I understand, there were several moms there with their sewing machines helping out throughout the day. The kids made over 200 pillowcases that will be donated this coming week. After school, Nick and some of his fellow teammates from his football team went over to the school to make some pillowcases as well. Thanks to everyone that helped this worthy cause. I have attached a couple of pictures.

A lot of people have been asking whether or not Nick is going back to school.  The short answer to that is no.  Unfortunately, Nick will need to have a series of tests (MRI, CT Scan, Spinal Tap, X-Rays, etc) over the next couple of weeks.  The beginning of March, he will then begin the final phase of his treatment, chemotherapy.  While he may not be in school everyday, we do try to keep him occupied.  He is taking a pottery class with his mom and Nick and I try to go to the gym a few days a week to play basketball and/or swim.  He also has to do a couple of hours of schoolwork each day so that he can try to keep up with his class.  I think Nick would admit that he would rather have Mrs. DiMartin as a teacher than me.  I am sure it is not easy since we don't really teach him.  We give him the work, his book and then answer questions if he has any.  It's kind of like taking a correspondence course, except he is only 10.  We did make a surprise visit last week to his class.  I am sure they were all glad to see Nick, and although he was a bit nervous, I know that he was happy to see them all as well.

 

Last week's snow day was a very welcomed surprise for all of us (especially Samantha and Peter).  We took advantage of the day off to head up to Bear Creek to do a little bit of skiing.  The timing could not have been any better.  After Nick's surgery, he was told that he needed to "keep both feet on the ground", meaning no contact sports, etc.  Well that snow day happened to fall exactly on his 3 month anniversary!  We didn't know what to expect, but lo and behold, he hit the slopes without missing a beat.  We spent about 5 hours skiing the entire mountain before calling it quits.  Since D'Town was the only school district off that day, the slopes were empty, which ensured wide open slopes, no lift lines and numerous runs.

Today we spent a couple of hours with Nick's football team playing basketball at the YMCA.  It was great to see all of the boys again.  It was even better seeing them all playing together as if nothing had ever happened.  We were curious to see how Nick would do as well as how he would be treated by his team.  We were happy to see that, while everyone was glad to see him, he was treated just like any of the other kids and they all had a great time.  Thanks to the Lionville YMCA for allowing us to have the use of their gym this Sunday afternoon.

So, our 2 week hiatus is coming to a close.  This Thursday we are back at CHOP for a check-up and to schedule the aforementioned tests before the beginning of March.  It was nice to have this time together as a family to just relax and enjoy each other.  I will keep everyone up to date over the next couple of weeks as we get more information.