Huge Milestone - CBC 07/28/2010

Today was Max's 6 month appointment. We went into MGH at 10 AM, saw Dr. Ebb, got his blood drawn and then Dr. Ebb said that even without looking at his counts, he seemed to be doing great and unless we got some surprises when the CBC results came in, we didn't have to come back for a full year. I have to say that I really thought this day would never come. It is such a huge milestone. I remember about 2.5 years ago, when he was still going biweekly asking Dr. Ebb if we were going to be going several times a year for the rest of his life and him saying that he had teens who had to be dragged in once a year and that he was optimistic that it would be like that for us. That seemed like such a far away dream though. And now here we are. I can barely believe it, and the thought brings tears of happiness to me. It also brought Max to tears for a different reason, which made me chuckle. He was genuinely sad to hear that he wouldn't be going back to the hem/onc clinic for another year. He said he really likes Dr. Ebb and will miss him and asked if we could go for a visit sometime. I suspect I can work something out.

After the appointment, we took the T to the Haymarket stop and walked up to Hanover street for a couple of slices of pizza. We had James with us and both boys really enjoyed their pizza. We then directed a tourist family away from Mike's Pastry and towards Maria's and Modern Pastry (lol) and headed to Maria's, picked up pastries and gelato, and then walked over to the Rose Kennedy Greenway to eat and play in the fountain. Then, Max talked me into taking them to the aquarium, which I love but is really expensive. We really enjoyed it and even got to see the seal show, which I don't think I have seen since I was a child. A quick T ride back and we retrieved the car from the lot and headed home in rush hour traffic. Both boys fell asleep about 5 minutes into the ride. I, wish I could have, too, as I was beat, but in a good way. Wearing a 22 pound child for over 4 hours makes for a very good workout.

I missed Dr. Ebbs call (I think he called when we were down in the Jellyfish area and I didn't have service) but his counts were great (I called back and one of the nurses gave them to me). They took longer than normal because he ran a bunch of liver etc function tests as well as a retic count, which he hadn't run in at least a year. Everything came back normal. Here are the results.

WBC: 6.5
PLT: 203
HCT: 39.5
HGB: 13.1 (I think. I was writing in crayon on a dry cleaner tab while in stop and go traffic merging onto rt. 93 and it is a bit hard to read that one.
ANC: 3580

I still feel like it is a dream.

Oh, I forgot something. Dr. Ebb told me that they have a new patient at MGH who was about to start treatment for SAA. I told him that if his parents wanted to talk to me, I would be happy to talk to them. I remember how terrified I was, and how much better it made me feel to talk to a mother whose son was doing really well after treatment. It is such a rare disease that it is hard to find anyone who has had to go through this and so often, the news if you Google is just not good. He said that there was a language barrier but that he would tell them anyway. Either way, I hope the boy does as well as Max has done.

May the Force Be With You

Max turned 7 today. Where has the time gone. He is growing so fast. His birthday is always a time when I reflect about how lucky we are to have him. Two days from now will be the 4th anniversary of finding out that he was sick. In so many ways at this point, it seems like a long ago bad dream. He has been doing so amazingly well. Two more weeks and we go for his 6 month appointment. I am trying not to think about it so that I go into the stressed out and unpleasant to be around mode. Easier said than done.
Max wanted a Star Wars birthday party. He actually wanted a costume party, but I was worried that it would be too hot for people in costume so we made it costume optional and no one, including Max, wore costumes. It was hot, around 90, though cooler than yesterday. Max wanted a Slave 1 (Janga and Boba Fetts' ship) cake and pinata, but to me, Boba Fett is the guy who tried to kill my hero in hotness Han Solo, plus there was nothing on the internet showing me how to make a Slave 1 cake, so I went for R2D2 instead as Max still really likes R2D2. (He painted a paper mache pinata and called that Slave 1, so he was happy). I got some crazy idea that I would make a 3D R2D2. I had first planned to surprise Max but decided to include him on it, and am very glad that I did. First of all, it would have been really difficult to hide it from him, and secondly, he helped decorate it and really had a good time doing it. Even I had a good time. Somtimes, it is hard for me to let go of my idea of doing things "right" and just let the kids things the way they want to do them. We used fondant, which I had never used before, and the kids really enjoyed using it. So did I, for that matter. I still think it is tastless but I get why people use it. It was really fun to work with. Max LOVED the way the cake turned out and I was pretty pleased, too. It was far from perfect, but that is okay. And it was yummy. :) Just ask James, who we found sneaking cake and frosting while we were decorating at another table.

For the rest of the party, we did a Jedi Training Obstacle course, but mostly they just ran around the yard. Max had a blast and it seemed like everyone else enjoyed it, too. I don't do this whole super planned out party thing well at all but I tried. It was a really nice day. Sorry for picture overload.

I Just Had To Share

I posted this on the family blog: http://joshmaz.blogspot.com/2010/07/sibling-rivalry.html but really wanted to share it on here, too, as it shows what an amazing heart Max has.

And for those who are wondering, he was supposed to have his 6 month checkup this week but we moved it out two weeks because I work every day this week and he is going to "camp" next week. I am anticipating good news. Hopefully I will not be surprised by anything.