The PEG

After a great day of school, and helping me get some groceries at the store, Alex fell asleep on the way home. I carried him into the house, where he napped for about 1 1/2 hours until it was time to go to the doctors office.

My mom came over to watch Tessa, and I woke Alex up and put him in the car. He continued to snooze all the way to the hospital. He protested a little when I put him in the stroller for the ride up to the clinic.

I expected a really grumpy guy - but yet again, he fooled me, and was his goofy self at the clinic. We got the cream on his thighs right away, and then went to the playroom for 1/2 hour while the cream numbed his legs. He played a video game while we waited for the dreaded needles. With very little resistance, Alex went back to the room to submit to the PEG shots. I sat on the bed, with him in my lap. The nurses told me to hold his arms, expecting a fight. The nurses counted to three, and plunged the needles into his small thighs. As they were pushing the plungers down, they both looked at me with big eyes. Alex whimpered once, and took a deep breath. That was all the reaction he gave. They praised him, and said he was braver than most of the teenagers in the clinic. The nurses put a bandage on each leg, and then we went back to the playroom for an hour, while they monitored him for any allergic reaction to the PEG Asparaganaise.

Alex played on the video game machine for the hour wait, and then we went home. This little boy inspires me with his strength and maturity when it comes to his illness. He handles himself with a dignity and poise that I would be surely lacking in his place.

Last night, before bed - I was telling him that I was proud of how brave he was, and that it is OK to cry if he needs to - it worries me sometimes about how stoic he is. We have the names of a few play therapists, and I think we are going to set up an appointment for Alex to start seeing one - just to make sure he isn't bottling all of this up.

We chanted "Go away cancer - we don't want you here" a few times before Alex's bedtime last night. If only it was that easy...