F-I-N-A-L-L-Y....

...WE GET TO GO HOME!

Tube free! No drain+No I.V.=Wireless!
No more "room with a view"!
What other hospital in the country will send up sour gummy worms and sour nerds?!
Much better this morning. He tried to eat his soggy fruit loops!

"Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend." ~Plautus

Damn Drain!

Sorry for the language but this damn drain is driving me crazy. We were supposed to go home yesterday and his incision was still draining, so they said "one more day". Well here we are today and the damn drain is still draining! So here we are again "one more day"! We had a pretty good night last night, slept pretty well. Docs didn't come in until 8ish this morning, much better than 6ish! He is doing well except for the damn drain. It is the only thing that really bothers him and causes him pain. He feels tied down. My poor guy. He has been bundled up in the awesome blanket Grandma Suzi made for him, and cheered up by the green Bionicle and funny chicken card Belle picked out just for him. He also asked if he could call "room service" and order his breakfast. Cute boy. He ordered some silver dollar pancakes. Unfortunately though, he felt really sick before he was able to eat them. We are sitting here now just waiting for his Zofran to kick in so that he can enjoy his pancakes without throwing up! Visitors lift his spirits. If any of you are "in the area" we would love to see you here. Just give me a call!

Fun Times

Dude! This hospital rocks! How lucky are we that we have Primary Children's Hospital so close to us? In the beginning of the day a super cute girl from the Child Life Specialists came and gave Spence a "hospital buddy" that he got to draw a face on to look like himself. He got to insert a real I.V. into and place a drain in it's neck just like he has. The Child Life Specialists are an awesome group that help the kids and their siblings cope and understand their hospital visits. Soon after that a woman came around with her cat Bullet the Wondercat. Spence got to hold him and pet him for a little while. It was very calming for him and good timing too because at the same moments the oncologist came to visit with us. Later that day an activity cart came around with different kinds of fun crafts for him to make. He chose a dream catcher and a door hanger. He ordered a cheeseburger, club crackers, an ice cream sandwich AND a rice crispy treat. I love that kid. Of course it pretty much hurt to eat any of it but it made him happy just to order it!

Visitors Galore! We forgot to get pictures with Saunie and Riley, and Neina and Brooke. Spence has so much family and friends who love him! and Riley brought him a delicious strawberry shake and Neina and Brooke brought him a checkers game. Grandpa OK, Grandma Suzi, Raynee and Arza came with Belle and Gavs (yay! it had been 2 days since I had seen the kids). They brought him an awesome Ripley's Believe it or Not book and Raynee and Arza made him an awesome bracelet. I will take pics of it later! Aunt Chelsey works here at Primary Children's Hospital and visited us on her break and lunch break and after work! Today was a fun day.

Isabelle was really nervous to see him with needles and tubes. She kept biting her blanket and she wouldn't come too close to him and Spencer's funny sense of humor kept teasing her about it. He got up to go to the bathroom and noticed in the mirror that he looked like a zombie so he walked towards her and said "i am going to eat your flesh". Silly boy. Later when she had the courage to touch his leg, he made a biting motion at her. It was pretty funny.

Visitors, Sleep, Breakfast and a Nice Little Walk

Spencer is so blessed to have such beautiful, wonderful aunts (and uncle :)) come and visit him last night. He was still waking up from his anesthesia but he told me that he loved having visitors. They made his night. Aunt Melissa brought him a cool book that is full of awesome facts, she must know my Spencer and how much he loves to learn about new things!
Betsy (Spencer's future wife), Melanie and Josh came to visit. Betsy has diabetes and has been in the hospital plenty of times before and has been such a strength and example to Spencer. She loves Spencer so much and had a hard time seeing him like this, especially since he was still groggy from the anesthesia. We love you guys so much and are so thankful for you!

The rooms have freaking playstation 2! That made Spence very happy, although he was too tired to really play it. Maybe tomorrow!

Finally asleep. You can see by the way his lips are that his throat and tongue are swollen. He figured out a way to position them so he can breath and sleep comfortably.

This is my view of Spence through his bedrail while on my "comfy" chairbed

He was so excited that he has a "room service" menu. Poor little guy could barely swallow his Sprite but he still ordered sausage!

Yummy! Strawberry Carnation Instant Breakfast, blueberry muffin, and sausage! The tray came with a cool little bendy guy that had a joke in it's hands, "Where did the spaghetti go to dance?" "The meatball"!!!

He decided after he tried to eat his breakfast that he needed to work up an appetite first so we took a little walk. His poor little face. He is afraid to move it too much because it hurts but the Horner's Syndrome, which is produced when sympathetic innervation to the eye is interrupted (like by a tumor), is why his eyelid is droopy and his pupil smaller than normal. He has a drain attached to his incision, draining all fluids, and that is what he is holding in his hand. We were supposed to be able to come home tonight but because his drain is still draining we may have to wait until tomorrow. Poor guy can't stand it sticking out of his neck.

Biopsy Day

Spencer has been most worried about this day. He is terrified of surgery but I have been so impressed with his courage. He really is my superhero. He chose to have "rootbeer" gas to put him to sleep and my sweet, wonderful sister in law who works in the surgery dpt here at Primary asked her friend, Julia, to take my guy back. She came and found us as soon as he fell asleep to tell us that he did well. He counted down from ten and got to two. Before he fell asleep he told the nurse Raine (pronounced Raynee) that he didn't like her name. He really did though, he was excited to see that she has the same name as my stepsis. He was just really loopy from the medication. Funny guy. We are still here waiting for his procedure to be done, it has been about two hours now. Here are a few pictures from pre-op.

Suspicions

Last Saturday, January 30,2010, in the evening I noticed that Spencer's right pupil was significantly smaller than his left, and the right eyelid was droopy. I didn't feel like I needed to rush him the emergency room that night but I did not feel good about it at all. I knew that he had a dr.'s appt set up for Monday for a checkup on his headaches so I decided to wait until then. After a long day and a long wait at the dr.'s office our wonderful pediatrician took one look at his eye and told me to take him straight to the Primary Children's Hospital emergency room. I dropped very hungry and tired Gavin and Isabelle off to Nate and took Spencer in. On our way we stopped at Carls Jr. and got a bacon western cheeseburger and some onion rings, his favorite. Everyone in the ER was wonderful and we didn't wait long to talk to dr.s and nurses and get him in for a CT scan. When the ER doctor came in and explained the CT scan it was obvious from the pictures of the tumor. I have always thought that if something like this ever happened to me that I would stop functioning. It is amazing what you can get through. I didn't have another option for my son, than to be strong and brave. It is true that the Lord will not give you something that you cannot get through. There have been some low times so far but for the majority of the time there has been peace, lots of peace. We can feel your prayers surrounding our family and piercing our souls. The day after the ER we headed back up to Primary Children's Hospital to meet with our ENT Dr. Grimmer. He has been wonderful. He looked over the CT scans and believed the tumor to be a Rhabdomyosarcoma. We waited an emotional hour while Spencer soldiered through an MRI. MRI results yesterday confirmed the Rhabdomyosarcoma. Today we wait through a gruesome 2-3 hour invasive biopsy which will confirm the type of cells involved in the mutation, which will tell us the types of treatment that we will have to undergo as a family. We will post pictures and updates and physically and emotionally able. We love you and are thankful for all of your prayers and fasting.