The kids like to try and catch Leprechauns each year on St. Patrick’s Day. This year, they set out the traps they worked on earlier today. This is what they came up with:

This is what the kids actually caught:

Whoever decides to have yogurt for breakfast is in for a surprise. Last year, the pesky leprechauns turned the milk green. Peter was determined to prevent that from happening again. This time, however, yogurt is the target.

Eli saw his doctors today for an end of treatment chat. We had to get past the virus police first, which required hand sanitizer and a mask for me, since I’m still a little congested from my illness of the past 10 days. Eli kept commenting on the emptiness of the hospital halls and waiting room.

Now what? Eli’s done with chemo, so what’s next? We will do a phone visit with Eli’s surgeon, since the hospital is trying to avoid having patients come, if they can help it. This means we will probably postpone checking Eli’s leg growth. He has grown 3 cm since the baseline xray last fall, and 6 cm since his initial diagnosis.

More immediately, though, is the port removal, scheduled for next week. When Eli had his biopsy to confirm that he had cancer, the surgeon put in a port. A port is an infusion device through which Eli’s blood was drawn and chemo was administered during treatment. See my post for more details.

Now that he only needs labs every three months when he gets scans, the port is not necessary. Not only that, but it becomes something of a liability. As long as he has a port, any time he gets a fever, he has to go to the hospital to get checked out. Also, the port needs to be flushed at least once a month, so keeping it in means unnecessary needle pokes. So, time to get it out.

COVID 19

A blog post at this time wouldn’t be complete without mentioning COVID 19. Welcome to our world. I think that about sums it up.

We’ve spent almost a year and a half trying to take all the precautions that are now being recommended to everyone (limited social contact, proper hand hygiene, disinfecting frequently touched surfaces, staying home when sick, quarantines, etc.). It doesn’t seem to have helped me much this year, but at least Eli hasn’t been sick yet.

Prayer request of the week:

In addition to continuing to pray for the cancer to remain in remission, we are praying that Eli will stay well this week so he will be ready for his port removal surgery next Monday.

Thank you all for your continued love and support! We have felt strengthened during this time by your thoughts and prayers.