Deja Vu

Only one week of school and Joshua will already miss his first day of school today, just like last year. We are on fever watch. Even though Josh is off-treatment now, as long as he has his port, he still has to go to the emergency room if his temperature reaches the all-mighty magic number or higher. Which he will most likely keep for "at least 6 months after treatment" according to his oncologist. He has been running a low-grade fever all weekend, but so far we have managed to stay out of the ER and even though he is feeling pretty crummy, he isnt letting it hold him down much. He insisted he ride is bike out front every day of this holiday weekend.

Joshy's last appointment was on the 14th, this month has seemingly gone by super slow. Which doesnt make sense to me since I was so busy planning his party, but for some reason I keep thinking we go back to Pittsburgh this Thursday but it actually isnt until next, on the 11th.

This is Joshua's second "cold" since his clinic visit. I think that might be a factor of why it seems this month has stalled.

When we went to the hospital last month Joshua didnt wear his mask (because he had played with it the day before and ruined the very last one I had). While we were in the examining room Josh surprised me and asked the doctor if she could give him another mask for when we leave. She told him that he didnt have to wear them anymore now that he was done with treatment.

Later that night, out of the blue, Joshua looked at me and declared, "Mom, isnt it cool that I dont have to wear my mask anymore?"

I was so excited for him.

Then the very next Josh started to get sick and with sad eyes he said, "I guess shoulda wore my mask."

My heart broke for him.

But I am glad he was feeling better for his party and then his first week of school, but here we are with another illness. Maybe it's the time of year. I dont know. But I admit I dont mind having him home to myself again. I already emailed his teacher and Halie will be picking up his work for him to do at home later.

Currently he is snuggled up on my side while I tap away lopsidedly on the lap top. Which reminds me, Aunt Kay, your afghans couldnt've come at a better time. We all absolutely love them, especially as the nights start to get colder here, but Josh has been dragging his around with him and cuddling into his everywhere.

His appetite has fallen again, but I imagine it is because he's not feeling well. Likewise, when he was outside yesterday he was trying to play with some of the neighborhood kids but he tired out real easy. What started out as 6 kids playing hop scotch, quickly morphed into 13 kids ranging in age from 4-13 playing freeze tag. I had fun sitting on my "California-born" swing watching them all play. It wasnt long into the game though that Josh came home and sat with me on the porch. He then decided he would ride his bike down a few houses where the kids were playing. He sat on his bike and watched them run around.

Well, I hope this funk leaves soon and he can get back to enjoying his OT life!

On a side note - I hope everyone enjoys the new site. I decided to transfer all of Joshua's CaringBridge journals over to this blog. I love the freedom of being able to add lots of personality! I have gone back through past journal entries and added pictures and slideshows here and there. If you have any spare time you might want to take a look. I will continue to post to his CaringBridge, but only briefly and only to inform readers that his page has been moved, but eventually I will probably just close that site. So if you look around here, you will see you can either leave individual comments, or you can sign the guestbook, and now you can add your own personal touches too! As usual we will read these to Josh as he really loves to get mail and he is starting to read some words on his very own! Also you will find a email notification box on the right sidebar. If you would like to be notified whenever I update Josh's page, you can subscribe there, or if you'd like me to add you manually, just drop me an email.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day weekend! Like I said earlier, Josh goes back to P-burg next week so I will try to update again then.