"The Hospital is more fun than this"

Dear Family and Friends:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It was a long 2 weeks at CHOC, but we are all home now. Cody and I were living at the hospital, Dave was out of the country for a few days, then laid up (still is) from kidney stones. We checked out of the hospital 12/30 late in the afternoon. Cody is now eating, off pain medication and feels great.

Cody has been on a lighter dose of radiation as of 12/19. They are now only radiating the tumor area of his brain rather than the spine and brain. In addition to lots of prayer, I am sure the lower radiation has helped his recovery. When the spine is radiated, it can also affect internal organs. In Cody's case his stomach. Radiation basically paralyzed his stomach to a point that his stomach was not doing it's job...so nothing was going down or out, just up. It was very painful for him.

While waiting for paper work to check out of the hospital, we went to the play room to kill some time. We ran into another family who's son had the exact same cancer and surgery as Cody. This boy took 8 months just to recover from surgery. He had to have a lot of physical therapy to relearn eating, walking and talking. We were reminded once again of the power of prayer and God's grace for Cody. So HUGE! thank you!

It is so very humbling to hang out at the cancer ward of CHOC. All of these brave children and parents. Talking, hugging and sharing the pain with parents that have just been given the "news" and parents that have been at the hospital, it seems, more than at their own homes for months and years. Huge, gratefully given sacrifices for their children while they recover. Some do not... and that is a reality that all cancer parents face. It is rarely spoken as to not hinder total recovery. It is a different world. Not a bad world, just your life forever changes, your priorities change. Life is deeper.


On a lighter note: In addition to his very picky pallet because of treatment, he absolutely "disliked very much" the hospital food. So every time they served his food, it went uneaten. Truth being told, I ate some of it. (it was bad) I can't believe hospital food is not more palatable. One would think the food served should encourage eating. I knew things were at a turning point though, when he asked for pizza at 10:00 PM on 12/29. I gladly cruised the area to find a late night pizza for him. Anything to get him to eat.

On the way home from the hospital, Dave drove himself back to ER (the third time in 10 days) because his kidney stones were really bothering him. The medication he was given a few days earlier wasn't doing the job. He has seen a urologist and was told he has 2 more stones. They are pretty far down so the doctor felt it best that he just drink lots of water to help them pass. If things don't improve soon, the doctors will try to help "them" out. But, in the mean time, he is pretty miserable.

Today was a great day. We got to celebrate Christmas and open gifts. Cody had a couple buddies over to play and check out his gifts. To Cody's complete disappointment (and our joy) after a morning of playing (in the house) and running around as if he had not spent the last 2 weeks, racked with pain, in bed with an IV pole filled with nutrition, pain medication, etc., we had to tell him to relax a bit, take it slow and his friends would have to go home for a while. He pouted and stammered and finally indignantly said "the hospital is more fun than this!" So I very calmly told him he should pack his bag. He looked at me shocked and surprised. "Well, you said the hospital was more fun, so you should pack a bag, I'll gladly take you there, we'll come and visit." Amazingly, a bit later he said he was glad he had to relax because it was probably a good idea. H-e-e's b-a-a-a-ck! Praise God!

Please pray that these stones pass quickly for Dave, continued peace for both Dave and I, and total recovery for Cody. Thank you again for your prayers.

Blessings to you and your family,

Dallas and Dave