Hurry Up and Wait

That is the motto here at the hospital. We had to leave our house yesterday morning at 6:15am in order to arrive here by 8am when we were supposed to check in. Guess what time the chemo finally started? No really, guess.

4pm. Yep. Really.

It was finished by 7pm. Jacob needed to urinate every two hours afterwards (to empty the bladder as they don't want that toxic stuff sitting in his bladder, damaging it). Which means that ALL night we had to get up every two hours to make him pee. Which means little sleep. So you would have thought that they would have gotten his chemo started earlier so that he wouldn't have had to wake up over and over again at night. Sigh...it's just the way it is here. Just like the fact that I asked the nurse for a report of his last CT scan and she came back saying her printer wasn't working but she would get it to me. She hasn't gotten it to me.

Now we are waiting for the doctor to come by on his rounds so that we can be discharged. More waiting.

We are in isolation since Jacob has had a cold this week. They did a swab to test if he has RSV or the flu (highly doubt it) and I haven't heard the results yet, of course. Which means that anyone coming in the room, or anyone leaving the room, has to suit up in a gown, gloves, and a mask. I understand that it is to protect the other patients from a possible virus but you would think the test results wouldn't take so long to get back. Oh, wait, I forgot where I was for a moment. Of course they would take long!

That has been our last 27 hours. Waiting, and more waiting. I can't "wait" to go home!

Randomness

Apparently, this is my 500th post on my blog! It makes me feel very wordy, though considering it is spread out over a year and a half it shouldn't.

I am awaiting the dryer to finish it's job so that I can finish mine - packing our bags for the hospital tomorrow. Jacob receives his next round of chemo (the sixth round) tomorrow. It is just an overnight stay this time around so much better than the four night stays that he sometimes has. I will be driving ourselves while Ben stays home with the other two kiddos to man the fort. Though the parking fee will be hefty (probably around $20) it will even out in not having to have someone drive us there and pick us up on Saturday...with the gas prices so expensive it would be more to do it that way.

Jacob's Hemoglobin counts were low today so he will also be needing a blood transfusion while we are in the hospital to up those counts. They were wanting us to come in this afternoon to get the transfusion but since he is still active and feeling fine they said it could wait until tomorrow when we are admitted anyhow - which was a relief to me as I did not want to travel there today as well as tomorrow.

My brother has started blogging so I hope some of you will welcome him to the world of blogging. You can read his blog here. While you're at it, one of my best friends is also a new(er) blog writer and you can see hers here.

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Spring, which now seems even further off after we were dumped with even more snow yesterday. Considering the fact that we don't go out often in order to stay away from germs and the awful illnesses that are going around town, we could really use some nice weather so that we can at least play outside and not be stuck indoors ALL. THE. TIME. I should have known that the groundhog was a liar. He's probably made about that time that I called him a guinea pig.

I've been working on spring cleaning this week and have several boxes set aside for my mom's spring garage sale. It feels good to pack things away that we no longer need and clear it out of the house. The kids are getting into the action even and looking through the toy room for things that they no longer play with. They like using the money that they earn at other garage sales for things that they want.

Jacob and I have an early morning tomorrow so I better get back to packing.

Tuesday's Topic: Cellphones

Have cellphones become a bit too much of a necessity? Is it rude to answer your cellphone or send texts when in the company of others?

What about children with cellphones? Ceaseless texting and constant phone calls? Is technology "dumbing us down" or are we advancing with the times?

No News...

...is usually good news. It is in this case.

Jacob is doing extremely well. This boy thrives when he is home and seems almost normal right after arriving home from the hospital where his body is pumped full of toxic drugs.

He becomes himself again at home. Making a house with "rooms" on the floor with blankets with his brother and sister. Chasing them around the house. Bouncing around with pent up energy.
He does tire out more easily. He does sit quietly on the couch more often, playing with a toy, coloring, looking through books, or watching television. But he is still Jacob. The boy who can light up a room with his smile. The one who craves tacos and likes to help me make them so that he can eat five of them (though last night he only managed to get three into his tummy). Without his bald head and pale complexion you almost wouldn't know that he was sick.

Besides a small cold that he has he hasn't had any complications. His blood counts were down on Tuesday but up enough on Friday that we could stop his G-CSF shots (to boost his white cells). His next treatment will be this coming Friday and we only have to stay over for one night so will be home sometime Saturday.

We are blessed that his body is handling the chemotherapy treatments so well thus far. We are blessed that despite everything he has been through he is still our happy little guy. We are blessed.

A Few of My Favorite Things

The saying "There's no place like home" is so true. I know this even more after spending several nights away each month at the side of my son's bed at the hospital as he receives chemo. The simple things in life are often the most comforting. Here are some of my favorite things:
A cup of tea in the morning. Especially this cup with tea in it. My husband gave it to me this past Christmas and I just love it!

A visit to the library, resulting in a stack of books and movies.

Comfortable cotton Karen Neuburger pajamas and a soft fluffy robe, courtesy of my mother.

And last, but certainly not least, my family. You can't make a house a home without filling it with love. (By the way, my brother mentioned Becca's messy hair...I swear I brushed it but the wind is blowing it in the picture!)

I'm also loving the fact that our snow is slowly melting!

What are some of your favorite things?

Thrifty Shopping From Home

It's been difficult to save money the past few months. With hospital stays, driving so much, and being exhausted I just haven't been frugal. I haven't been wasteful either but I haven't focused on ways to save. It just hasn't been a priority.

While we have a bubble of money from the benefit to help with Jacob's expenses we keep that separate from our spending. We ONLY use that money for things relating to Jacob's health and hospital stays. By spending that money wisely we should be able to get through all his treatments financially okay.

With our regular expenses we need to get back to saving. Prices are going up every which way. Today the gas was at $3.39 - $3.49 a gallon. I notice the food prices sneaking up. The electric, gas, and city bills are climbing.

One way that I have been saving a little money this week is buying some Amazon deals. I can shop from the comfort of my home and it has been free for me since I had so many Swagbucks Amazon gift cards saved up. If you don't know what Swagbucks are, it is a search engine (much like Google) that awards you "swagbucks" sometimes on searches. You can redeem your swagbucks for gift cards and prizes. With just a few searches a day I am able to earn at least $10 in Amazon gift cards a month. Go here to learn more and sign up.

I was able to get 4 boxes of Raisin Bran Crunch shipped to our door for about $1.60 each box. It's cheaper than sales at the store and it was free for me after the Swagbucks. I would have purchased it for that price even if I didn't have Swagbucks. That deal is over but two more I bought are:


The Pampers Soft Care baby wipes are on sale for $19.14 for a case of 720 wipes. If you subscribe and save it will drop the price lower (you can cancel your subscribe and save at any time after it ships). There is also a 50 cent coupon below the picture that you can click on to use. Enter MOMWIPES at checkout to receive and additional 10% off. You end up spending just $11.01 to have it shipped to your house. That is, if you are signed up under Amazon Prime shipping. You can get a free subscription to that by signing up for Amazon Mom.

4 12 oz. bags of Eight O'Clock Coffee is $18.30. Sign up for Subscribe and Save (and cancel after it ships) and it drastically reduces the price. Enter code SOLOCOP5 at checkout and you end up paying just $10.95 for 4 12oz bags. Remember, you have to have Amazon prime shipping to receive the free shipping...or sign up with the Amazon Mom link above (it's free and nothing to cancel).

This is one way I am bringing the costs down in our household. If you use these items it is better prices to get it on Amazon shipped directly to your door than even sales or coupons. Can't beat that!

His View

Last week I brought my camera along to the hospital with us for Jacob's 4 day round of chemo.
I let him take photos of whatever he wanted (the picture above shows him in the toy room).
These are all from Jacob's viewpoint.