Another New Normal

It's been a good week. Ollie is happy to be "home" (at least in our temporary Toronto home, but I always say home is where your people are, not in the dwelling that you live in), even though Monday and Tuesday he had to be back at the Day Hospital bright and early for bloodwork. When he got there on Monday the team on 8B in the Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Unit had left him a certificate and a special gift for his strength and bravery in getting the transplant. 

They also had to check his Tacrolimus (immunosuppressant/anti-rejection drug) levels. On Tuesday his level was high, so they bumped down the dose a bit for the rest of the week. 

The great news was that he was otherwise well and didn't have to go to hospital Wednesday or today, so two "normal" days of being home. I think we've played with every toy he has here!

The first thing he wanted to do Monday was order new "transplant gift" Beyblades from It Came From Japan. The owner, David is a super nice man (thanks for the intro, Kim Aube!) and Ollie's story has touched him (he has a 9 year old boy of his own) so he had offered to meet me instead of shipping them so Ollie could have them right away (his business is an online ordering). Ollie was pretty thrilled and we've had many epic battles this week.

Abby is preparing to leave later this week, despite the fact that we're now uncertain exactly when school will start for her. So this week she and I have ventured out a bit while Ollie napped and Mario worked. She was in love with Doc Martens, so we went to the outlet to get her first pair. 

We also went to the Lego Store and got Ollie some of the Ninjago sets he can't get elsewhere. 

Lately Abby and Ollie swing from happy to be in each other's presence to bugging each other, which is a sure sign things are returning to normal for them. I'll miss the sweetness they showed each other when he was sick, though. 

This afternoon Abby and I did a whirlwind tour of Casa Loma. It was pretty dead, so a great place for a socially distanced activity in public. I was supposed to first visit Casa Loma for my grade 7 trip (and then the bus was late getting into Toronto and we missed it!!!), so Abby is about the same age as I was when I learned about it, but funny enough I never actually made it there until I was in my twenties and visiting one of my best friends for a weekend in the GTA and asked if we could go (thanks, Walker!). 

Abby enjoyed it and the kids have become accustomed to their father and I dragging them around museums, old houses and forts (last summer it was Fort Henry in Kingston and Fulford Place in Brockville) on family trips.

I'll really miss her not being with us (I miss her when she's away for a week of overnight camp!) for at least a month and am praying that things continue to go smoothly for Ollie so that we can get home and be together again soon.

Hopefully tomorrow's blood tests are good and we get to continue as we have been this week with a few less hospital visits. 

Stronger together

Sunday we were still at CHEO waiting for neutrophils to go up so this superhero has his infection fighting superpower again. It was a long day that started with his disappointment at not being able to go home. The doctor  offered him a day pass or even just to go outside for a walk. He responded, "What's the point?! I'll only have to come back here and it'll be worse!" My sentiments exactly. Sometimes it's best to just power through.

Late that afternoon he asked to have the special G-CSF injection that could stimulate his neutrophils. He said if it would make it more likely for him to go home for sure on Monday he wanted it. Apparently it is very expensive (so grateful again that we are Canadian!), so they warned him that he couldn't waffle on it as it had a short shelf life and the doctor wouldn't order it twice. He committed and was scared, but did it with minimal crying. 

The beautiful thing is that it worked! Monday morning his neutrophils were up to 1.2 from a scary 0.2 (no wonder he got an infection!!!). The nurse shared the news and Ollie was so excited he was dancing. Then she said it might take a while to get our discharge orders. When Ollie asked how long and she said sometime in the afternoon after rounds, he was mad again!   I am not kidding when I say that CHEO nurses are angels as about 30 minutes after she left, she returned and told me if I didn't have any questions for the doctors, they'd already signed the discharge orders and she'd unplug Ollie from his IV and we could go. Again there was dancing and profound thanking. While I packed up, Ollie enjoyed some Christmas carols compliments of a quartet that came by to play for 4 North. 

By 10:30 am we were on our way home for Christmas! 

More packages and goodies awaited us from friends and family! 

 Lego withdrawal was hard!

 Big Hershey's Kiss!

There were also messages and little things to make him happy from every class in his amazing school! 

This evening, my colleague and friend, Jennifer stopped by for a little visit to bring us incredibly generous Christmas presents from my work team. I have always loved working with this team at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat because they are not only colleagues, but friends after 9 years of working with them. They are among the kindest people I have ever worked with and honestly the big reason I have stayed there longer than I have ever worked anywhere before. The kids were thrilled with their gifts and we were all wowed by their generosity and thoughtfulness.

Ollie was so thrilled with one of his gifts that he got started on it right away!

 Abby can't wait to wear her cosy new clothes and pjs!

Finally, Ollie wanted to shave his head because the hair loss was too itchy, so Uncle Vic and Daddy followed through on their promise to shave their heads too. We had lots of laughs, and three handsome guys in the end. 

Thanks to all of these beautiful and thoughtful gestures, Ollie feels strong and like you're all in this with him, even when it's hard. We have, however, reminded him that while he has been spoiled lately by so many, this does not make him the centre of the universe and that he should be grateful, but not expect more as people have already been overly generous and it can't be Christmas every day for his 6-8 months of treatment.