The First Hurdle

I don't know that today could get much bigger.

Shortly after Kindergarten, we whisked Kean off to the hospital

for his first check-up and testing now that he is done with Chemo.

He was tired but happy to see his nurses, doctors and friends.

 Of course, we Barker's don't know how to do anything small or boring.

Kean's port once again decided not to cooperate.

Initially, we got some brown blood (not a good sign) and then

his port just up and refused to share any of the red stuff.

 So he earned a dose of TPA, which earns all of us a good

extra hour of ordering the stuff and then waiting for it to "un-clot"

his port.

And thankfully, it worked!

 We met with Kean's Oncologist and had a very interesting conversation

about what the chances are that his cancer will come back (about 15 percent)

but, and this is a big but, new and huge developments in the cancer world

have come up with a process of re-engineering T-cells to attack the cancer cells

and they now have a 95% cure rate (instead of 60 something).

So that was quite a comforting conversation.

Kean's counts look good, they'll continue monitoring and testing him

every month and I will work on relaxing and not living in fear 

of the big C coming back to my boy.

As we finished up the exam, Kean was led down the hall...

 to the Chemo suite where many of the nurses and staff members 

were waiting.

And I think you will understand why this is my new favorite song!

So, so cute!

Kean was hilarious-- eating it all up. 

 My two favorite moments?

When he took the tissue paper out of his present and took off

like a champion waving his flags to the crowd.

 (They gave him a bear, a train and a hand made blanket).

 And then here's my second favorite moment.

He walked over to his regular Chemo chair, clapped his

hands (as if saying let's get this show on the road)

and hunkered down for Chemo.

Oh what a silly boy.  It will sink in one of these days.

 After all the excitement, we headed up to the 4th floor

to see for the first time the Hall of Heroes portraits all hanging

on the walls.

 It was powerful

And the perfect way to finish off the day.