New York, New York

Nate's 1st trip to Central Park...hint...he's in my tummy :)



Nate is continuing to do SO well, it's quite strange really.  Almost like we just went and hung out in the hospital for a few days and they forgot to give him chemotherapy.  He's even been refusing to nap some days!  Isn't chemo supposed to zap your energy?  Not my crazy boy...not this time.  There is still a chance that mouth sores and/or a fever could be coming, so we continue to pray.  We really could use a break and would love to be home for the next couple weeks before starting round 5.  Nate has a clinic appointment tomorrow afternoon and I'm anxious to see what his counts are doing.  Every round has been so different for him as far as the dropping and recovery of his white blood cell count, that it's hard to predict.  Basically, once we know that his counts have recovered, we can breathe a little easier until the next round.

Well, we found out some definite plans for Nate's New York trip, though, basically everything is still up in the air.  We are due to be in New York on November 2nd for consultation and his surgery is tentatively scheduled for November 7th.  We hope to leave on November 1st, but we are also hoping to catch a ride with the Corporate Angel Network, which means we are at their mercy.  Nate will still be recovering from his 5th round of chemo when we travel and it will be dangerous for him to take a normal, germ infested, commercial flight.  I have a list of options, thanks to some great friends who compiled it, that I will look in to if the Corporate Angel Network doesn't work out, but we may not qualify for most of them and may have no other choice than to fly commercially.  Nate's surgery will happen on November 7th, only if his white cell count has recovered from the 5th chemo cycle.  If it has not, he will be at too high of a risk for infection and we will just have to wait another week and try again.  I really hope this doesn't happen because I would like to minimize the amount of time we are away from home.  After surgery, Nate will recover, then return home for round 6 of chemo.  The recovery time is generally 7 to 14 days.  I guess most kids are there for 7 days, but they told us to count on 14 to be safe.  So, we are looking at anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks in New York.  We are hoping and praying for 2.

It is going to kill me to be away from Wes and Ellie for that long...especially Ellie.  At least I can talk to Wes on the phone and hopefully do Facetime or Skype or something...but Ellie is just too little.  If I'm not there to hold her and snuggle her, I don't think she "feels" her Mommy with her.  What if she starts walking while I'm gone?  Man, I will hate that...sometimes these sacrifices just suck.  So, the positives...other than having our baby boy operated on by the best neuroblastoma surgery in the country.  We are hoping Nate will be feeling good, with a decent immune system when we get there, because we will have a whole free weekend in New York to show him the big city that Chris and I love.  Guess what else?  Chris and I will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary on November 3rd...in New York!  We were planning on taking a little trip for our anniversary and those plans got thrown out the window when Nate was diagnosed with cancer.  It looks like Nate wanted us to go to New York for our anniversary trip.  We have a few friends in New York and may try to talk one of them in to babysitting Nate so we can celebrate our anniversary and see a show or something.  Hear that New York friends?  Anyone up for babysitting? :)

This whole trip thing is makes me feel excited, scared, nervous and happy all at once.  I'm sort of looking forward to being in the city...but not stuck in the hospital.  I'm happy for Nate to have the rest of this tumor out of him, but man, surgery is just always so scary.  I'm excited for a little trip but nervous that it is going to end up being a long trip and I will miss my kids and family so much.  It's just so much of the unknown.  We are planning on staying at the Ronald McDonald House.  Chris, Nate and I will go on November 1st and Chris will stay until a day or two after Nate's surgery and will return home to work if Nate is doing well.  It will be very hard for me to be there alone with Nate, because it will mean that I will get very few breaks to get out of the hospital to run, shower or breathe fresh air.  I'm hoping some of our friends can come and sit with Nate for an hour here or there to give me a break.  One of my friends has also offered to leave her family and job for a few days and fly out to be with Nate and I when Chris leaves.  It is such a generous offer, I'm having a hard time accepting it...but I am strongly considering it.

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has been doing so many amazing things for us, big and small.  I want to send you all a heartfelt thank you letter and a great big hug...unfortunately, time just isn't permitting right now.  I am also afraid of forgetting to thank someone if I thank too many individually.  I really am a total scatter brain these days and can barely keep a thought in my head.  I really want everyone to know that every single thing you have done for Nate and our family has been important to us and greatly appreciated.  Also, if you have sent me an email, note, text, comment or Facebook message and I have not responded, please forgive me.  It is not because you are not important to me or I am mad or upset, it is purely because I didn't have the time to respond at the moment I received it and then my scatter brain took off and I forgot to respond.  Please know that I am reading absolute everything that is sent to me and we love it all.  It lifts us up daily and gets us from one moment to the next.  If you send me something that requires a response and I don't get back to you in a couple days...please send it again.  I promise I will respond as soon as I can. Thank you again!  We love you all!