November 16, 2010 in Uncategorized with 12 Comments

Today, Gray began his bone marrow harvest. It’s rough. Each day, Grayson has to be transported to the Oklahoma Blood Institute by ambulance, which he was kind of freaked out by today, and then he has to sit completely still in one of the recliners for over two hours while this large machine harvests his marrow. The machine was scary to us let alone a tiny two year old. Gray got used to it pretty quick, though. Gray was also pretty cranky and even a bit agressive today. We think it was because of the morphine they gave him. Pain killers seem to make Gray upset. We can’t blame him. Today, one of the nurses tried to give Grayson a little stuffed puppy to hold during his treatment and as soon as she handed it to him Gray chunked it right back at her! The nurse just laughed! I think she understood. Honestly, we’d probably all be throwing things at this point if it was socially acceptable. We were wondering if Gray would have to receive any form of sedation during the harvest since he’s not allowed any movement but all the sedation he had was Toy Story 3. He did very well, though. He let us hold him some and he was so brave. He’s truly our hero. It hasn’t gotten any easier to look at the port coming out of Grayson’s neck. Thankfully today the nurses taped the port tubes hanging freely from his neck up onto the side of his head so that they aren’t as heavy or as much in the way as they were before. We are sure, no matter what, that when we leave the hospital Grayson will have a very sore neck. His port really is very heavy and he has to lay with his head tilted to the side at all times just to make room for it on his tiny body. Sigh. Overall, we’re hanging in there. You really don’t get any rest in the hospital…at all. Nurses come in every four hours to check all of Gray’s vital signs and although last night’s nurse did her best to stay very quiet there’s just no way you can stay asleep through all of that. This entire process thus far has really worn Gray out. Poor guy. He had no idea all of this was coming. There’s no way to prepare your two year old for all that he’s had to endure over the past 48 hours. Thank you for all your prayers. We really can feel them every moment of every day. Please continue to pray for rest, strength, peace and emotional energy for our entire family. While walking our baby through the fight of his life we are at the same time doing our best to keep faith close and fear at bay. It’s a choice we have to make every second.

“But I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.” Psalm 55:16-17