April 14, 2011 in Uncategorized with 15 Comments

I’m sure you’ve already heard but we are so excited to announce…GRAY IS HOME!!!!!!!!!!! There aren’t enough exclamation marks in the world to express, via type, how excited we truly are!!!! Being home is so refreshing and oh so relaxing!!!! Gray’s last week in the  hospital wasn’t great but it was better then the second and third week. Gray began recovering from his transplant side effects about a week ago. They took him off his morphine which was probably the worst to recover from. Coming off of his medicine Gray became cranky, aggressive and lost alot of sleep. On the up side, though, Gray’s blood counts were recovering at a really good rate and his mood gradually improved as the week went on. Gray did continue to experience some sickness up until a couple of days ago. That too made for several long nights and days and we were so glad when it was over. The end of last week the doctors told us that Gray would probably be ready to go home sometime this week and then when we learned it would be Tuesday we were literally jumping for joy while fearing every moment that the doctors would change their tune and tell us we had to stay longer. I think we were biting our nails until the moment we loaded Gray into the car and drove out of the hospital parking garage! We were finally FREE!!!! As we got dressed to leave the hospital Gray kept insisting that he wear his jacket. He was so adamant about putting on his jacket that we finally realized that when we checked into the hospital, a full month ago, it was actually cold outside!! Naturally, Gray thought it would still be chilly out and wanted to keep warm. We tried to explain over and over that it was actually warm outside but Gray didn’t believe us until we stepped outside. He looked up at us with an expression that said “Huh, you were right!”. The cutest part of our trip out of the hospital, though, had to be when Gray suddenly stopped halfway through the parking garage, put both hands on top of his head, wrinkled his bald little brow and looked up at us saying “Where’s my hair??” Ha!! All we could do was laugh! In disbelief of what we had just heard we couldn’t help but ask Gray what he had said! When he repeated the same question, with the cutest look of confusion on his face, we felt bad giggling again as we reminded Gray that he had lost his hair months ago. After hearing this, Gray simply shrugged his shoulders and replied “Oh! OK!” and kept right on moving toward the car! Huh! I guess it only took him six months to realize he’s bald…completely bald!!

Before we left the hospital, the Stem Cell Transplant Unit of the hospital threw Gray a “Going Home” party!! They made it very special even serving cupcakes and chocolate milk!! Gray’s favorite drink!! Gray wasn’t really in a party mood at first. He actually broke down into tears when we walked out of our room and he saw everyone lined up staring at him. I’m not sure he knew what to think. We finally got Gray to look at his party and he DID eventually enjoy himself but the nurses decided NOT to sing! We didn’t think that would go over too well…at all!! All of Grayson’s nurses were at the party. Even nurses who have treated him on the tenth floor of the hospital. Gray’s goodbye party was very sweet but we were so very excited to be taking our little boy home and to be reunited as a family after a very long month separated that it was kind of hard to enjoy those little cupcakes! Our own beds sounded so much better! We’ve been home now for a full day and there are no words to describe the emotion. Time and family, don’t ever take them for granted. We now have a week off before we begin preparing for Gray’s next round of treatment. In the next couple of weeks, Gray will begin radiation. His radiation treatment lasts twelve straight week days and each treatment will be an all day event. Radiation is outpatient but it will feel like being admitted all over again because we have to be at the hospital by 6:30AM each day and not only will Gray receive radiation but he will have to be put completely under for each treatment. Of course, this means that Gray could become sick again (not only from the radiation itself but also simply from being administered anesthetic every single day), he will most likely be cranky and upset after each treatment and he will also be susceptible to a variety of new side effects. Because of the location of Gray’s tumor, his radiation could (and we’ve been told most likely will) cause liver damage and radiation is also known to stunt kids’ growth. While those are serious side effects, we are doing our best not to think about them right now. We just want to get through the radiation treatments themselves and most of all we simply want to enjoy this week or two off!! We have to admit that it’s felt a bit strange so far being home. We don’t have to give Gray any shots or meds on a day to day basis. We’re constantly thinking “what meds have we missed?”, “when is Gray’s next shot?”, etc. and we find ourselves looking to our medication calendar hour after hour thinking we’re missing something. I guess that’s a good thing, really!!

We really can’t thank each and every one of you enough for all of your thoughts and prayers this past month. It was the longest month ever (to say the least) and really nothing made it any easier besides prayer. Please continue to remember us in your prayers in the coming weeks and months. We are so grateful and happy to be done with chemo treatments and Gray’s stem cell transplant but we still have a very long road ahead of us. There are months and months of treatment ahead and most of it has just as many possible side effects and long term effects as what Gray has endured thus far. We also ask for your prayers as we are getting very close to the busiest time of the year for us as District Youth Directors for the state of Oklahoma…Youth Camp!! Regardless of where Gray is at in treatment and regardless of what is going on with us personally or in our own home, camp is coming. We love camp and we love spending a month out of our summer ministering to the youth of our state but this year will be that much more complicated by Gray’s fight with cancer and by our constant battle to catch up on sleep. Please remember our family during this time.

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.”  Psalm 28:7