First Day Back At School

Yippy!

Alex went back to school today! I stayed in the classroom with him just to make sure that the transition was smooth. I really didn't have anything to worry about. Alex was thrilled to be back at school, and jumped back in like he had never left.

After a great day, on the way home he said "I'm not sick anymore, I get to go to school!" - ugh...a knife through my heart. I told him that he is well enough to go back to school, but that we still had a lot of medicine and doctors appointments to take care of before he was all better.

We finished his second round of Cyterabine last night, and deactivated his port, so when he went to school today, he didn't have any tubes hanging out.

Last night he told *us* what medication he needed to take. "Oh, I need the Zohfahn (Zofran), and the Mercaptahpurn (Mercaptapurine), the Cytabean (Cyterabine) and the Heprain Flush?" He is really getting good at letting us give him his medication. The Zofran is in a syringe, the Mercaptapurine is a crushed tablet in the mango sherbet (I need to find more of it - we are almost out!), and the Cyterabine is in his port.

I was going to post an entry last night called "the goof ball returneth" - but I was too busy hula-hooping, running, bowling, snowboarding, and driving on our Wii game system with Alex and Eric. Tessa was our cheerleader, and was busy walking along all the furniture. Alex has returned to his goofy self. I'm sure it's a combination of getting used to the "new normal", and getting back to some type of routine - including school! It's nice to have him back!

We are watching him closely, since his counts are low, and Tessa-Lynn had a fever a few days ago. The doctors told us not to be surprised if he got a fever, and had to be admitted. She thought it would be a good idea to have our bags packed "just in case". So far, no fever... She also told us about 1% of children who get multiple doses of Methotrexate in the spinal fluid, can have seizures, or stroke-like symptoms (weakness on one side, slurred speech) - that is temporary, but needs to be addressed right away. I forgot to ask her how long we have to watch for these symptoms - just a few days after getting the Methotrexate, or from now until...? It's on my list of questions for this Thursday's appointment.

Even with all of these possible complications, she thought it was really important for him to be back in school. She said "he can't live in a bubble for two years" - I really appreciate her "reality-driven" approach to medicine. I feel Alex is in really good hands with her.