Moving onto Phase 3...

Tommy is now past the first two phases of his treatment, only like 2 3/4 years left...Whoo Whoo! We have had a great week, Tommy has been feeling really well. I wish we could have stayed in phase 2 for the rest of the time. Those chemo pills he was taking really weren't bothering him. His counts didn't drop as low as they had anticipated, and he wasn't sick from them either. He was able to go to school quite a bit, and loved every time he could go. He is back to his normal loud, crazy, mischievious self. Yesterday, he even caused some problems at preschool! As I was picking up he and his little buddy from school, all the kids were outside waiting and the fire alarm was going off...yes it was Tommy! That was the first thing I thought of when I picked him up. He got in the car and his friend told me Tommy pulled the fire alarm, but his teacher told me he didn't. I think she wanted to protect him. Tommy was upset, and said he didn't. Later that night we got a call from sweet Miss Marilyn, the owner of the school. She told me what happened and that Tommy and his little friend were daring eachother to pull it, and they did! I told Tom what happened, he had to hide his laughter because he did the same thing when he was in first grade! So like father-like son, I guess. Little Stinker! So we told her we would have him come in to appologize, and he did today. He has to earn $5 to pay for the damages. It's hard not to laugh! I think he is feeling a little TOO good right now...

We got a week off from the clinic, and Tommy didn't know what to do with himself. I guess it threw him off schedule, every day he asked if we were going to the clinic. He wakes me up early a couple days to see if we were going, excited I guess, go figure. Finally for him it was thursday again, and yes we "got " to go. I think he likes the one on one with mom and dad, and he likes Dr. Barnette. He kinda flirts with the nurses so maybe he likes them too, not to mention he gets to play his DS for 2 hours, that could be the whole reason right there!

When they went to access his port the day before to get his blood work, the home health nurse had to poke him like 4 or 5 times to try to get it in. I think Zac may have moved the port a little when he kicked Tommy in the chest. So now it's a little harder to access, and it causes Tommy a little more anxiety, but he did great! His counts were way back up to 4000, so this week we need to go somewhere fun before they drop again. The next phase lasts 2 months, and it'll be a tough one. we go up every 10 days for this phase, so we get a couple more days off-yeah!! They will give him two types of chemo every time, a vincristine, the same chemo he has had a ll along, and the methotrexate which he usually gets in his spinal fluid for the back pokes. The methotrexate causes him mouth sores and makes him sick, so that is something to look forward to. We're going to have to get some of that "magic mouthwash" everyone's talking about, Fun! So every 10 days they will increase the doseage of chemo they give him, so he will progressively get worse over the next couple months. He has been a trooper, and we are so proud of the way he is handling everything! We love you Tommy! Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.