What is today??? All the days are meshing together and I am one tired momma!

I’m a day behind on my posts…. Don’t judge me! I’m a little busy!! Hehe! Here’s a catch up! It's a little long, pull up a chair!

Well, the sleep over didn’t work out the way I had planned, (in a nice way) Hunter got kicked out because he wasn’t 18. That was okay, he stayed late and we had a fun family movie, Popsicle night!!

Seeing his brother really lifts his spirits.

Fun night with my brother.

On Tuesday morning we were told Riley could finally eat whatever he wanted all day!! He wanted CORN DOGS!! And........we could go home later that afternoon!!! We were thrilled!! We had a meeting with the radiation doctor, Dr. Hunter, that morning and he actually put our mind at ease with all of it. He said that Riley would be getting a very low dose of Radiation on his abdomen. The # he used, which I will find more about later, is a 10, he said that people with breast cancer and brain cancer use around a 60. So it is a very low amount, which is so good. It should not burn his skin, just tan it a little and it will only be for 6 days. The bad thing about radiation is it can cause a secondary cancer later on, his would come back in his abdomen tissue or spine, but we’ll deal with that another time, or hopefully never.

So happy to get the news that we could go home!

The plan is to go home until Thursday, then we need to be back up to LDS hospital so he can get imaging for his radiation that will start on Monday the 15^th at 7:00 a.m. When they “map” him out, they will put him out while they get very detailed scans of his abdomen which will then be marked and tattooed on his body so they can line him up at exactly the right place every single time. The radiation will go from Monday to Friday then again on Monday. We also had another meeting with the Oncologist and have a game plan for the Chemo as well. We will also start that on Monday the 15^th at 10:00a.m. This will be every Monday from here on out with a couple of resting weeks in between. Because both of these procedures cause a lot of the same symptoms, we are just planning on Riley being sick and wiped out after the first week. But maybe we’ll be surprised! I’m actually feeling a lot better about things, I went through a moment of anger, then I decided there’s nothing I can do about it, so why not put my energy somewhere else. Don’t get me wrong I am NOT happy but I’m trying to be patient because I know one day the reason behind all of this will be clear. So until then, mini breakdowns and times of numbness will be my survival! Okay, maybe a little Prozac too!!!

Playing Lego's. So glad to have a little normalcy even if it's only for a day!

It was so good to be home for even just a day! But we had several problems with his drain getting plugged up, this causes the fluid to pool in his belly and cause a lot of pain and swelling, possible infection. So what did I do….. Called my on call nurses….. Calie and Pam!! Oh man, you should have seen the Mexican Surgical sight in my living room!! It was the best! They dislodged the tissue plugging the tube and we were good to go!! Until it happened again, and again. We ended up at the pediatrician’s office Dr. Miller for help. It seems like all is good for now, but we are supposed to go to PCH tomorrow to get it checked out by the surgery team. 

Our new sleeping arrangement for now.

Still so tired, but glad to be home!

So between sleeping with Riley in a rocking chair, worrying about his drain, waking him up for pain meds and (2) throw ups, we got a tiny nap last night!! I feel like this will be what a lot of the next 7 months will kind of be like…… oh man, I will be a zombie for sure!!

 HUGE THANK YOU!!!                                                                                                                                                         To so many people…. Coming home to an absolute clean beautiful house fully stocked with food and supplies, we will never be able to thank or repay everyone. It means so much to us. We seriously do have a huge army here is Salem backing us up!! We love you all and know how blessed we are. The biggest THANK YOU of all goes to my sweet sweet mom. Without her I would not survive. She has been at my house since day 1. She has taken care of Hunter, Frankie (our horny toad!) cleaned, washed, scheduled, driven to SLC and listened to me cry and have many many breakdowns without any hesitation at all. She is absolutely amazing! I love you so much mom!

To my Army Thank You!

Since Riley will be his healthiest on Friday and Saturday, we would love to have friends and visitors come to say hi for just a minute! I know so many of you care, and I would love to give you a great big hug!!