This coming Tuesday night will mark four weeks since Tyler’s journey with cancer began. He has been off chemo for 10 days now, and has at least 11 more to go before they test him again to see if he’s ready for the next onslaught. He’s been off Gentamicin for the past 3 days because of a concern with his kidney levels. Even off it, he’s been fever-free. Tyler has a daily goal to drink 3 litres, which allows him to be disconnected from his IV pole for about 6-8 hours a day. Even though he’s not hungry or thirsty, being disconnected is a huge motivator, so he’s been reaching this goal for the past few days with great success.
Tyler’s attitude is really great. He doesn’t love tutoring, he loves seeing his friends, he stays up too late, and his humor is dry. He’s just applied his pre-cancer life to his in-patient life. He had to switch rooms earlier this week, and while I was all stressed out with the packing and reorganizing, he focused on the things about his new room that he liked better than the old one. He keeps his mom’s spirits in good shape!
Because he’s working hard to meet his liquid intake goals, Tyler has regained a few pounds. This is wonderful news as he needs to regain as much as possible before the next course of chemo. Instead of water, we encourage high calorie, high protein drinks. Eating meals is still a challenge for him since he’s simply not hungry. He manages about a meal a day, so nutritional drinks are very important.
Our family continues to be amazingly well cared for. I can’t even begin to summarize all folks are doing for us. If sheer love could cure cancer, Tyler would be home and in perfect health. Since it can’t, we’re happy to let the love of others carry us day by day.
And we always have the perfect Love of our Father, who despite being the Creator of the Universe, cares about every detail of our lives. These verses were on a card we received, and bring much comfort….
- He collects every tear in a bottle (Psalm 56:8)
- He numbers every hair on your head. (Luke 12:7)
- He knows every hurt in your heart (Psalm 34:18)
- God cares, right down to the last detail (James 5:11)