Well, the day for the sun to rise has finally come... Sammy is off treatment. Strangely, I didn't leap to the computer to share it with you all as soon as it happened. In fact, I have avoided this blog for quite some time. I am not sure why...I just didn't want to post anything.
I do have fun moments to share:
We went pumpkin picking at our usual farm and had fun before treatment was over.
During week two of the last cycle, we journeyed to Maryland for Cousin David's wedding with the beautiful Chesapeake Bay as a backdrop .
The boys enjoyed the hotel pool! Sammy perfected his handstands :)
Then came the final dose of Mercaptopurine. I never thought this would come. I captured the moment on camera...felling strange for wanting to. First I had to crush the pills...
This is our box of poisons medicines....the entire drawer is filled!
Once the pills were crushed, I mixed them with coke...once the white powder was hardly visible, it was time to drink it on down.
Nothing like drinking in your sleep. Sammy actually doesn't remember most nights.
To celebrate, balloons and gifts awaited the boys on the final day of chemo...Sam would be going into the clinic for his final dose of Methotrexate. Jack wanted to get up early with him to cheer him on.
Leslie came with goodies: A big box of donuts and juice to celebrate!
Megan had to have a hug!
The following day, a surprise awaited us....the entire school (and most of the district) donned the orange Superman Sammy t.shirts again to cheer Sammy at the end of treatment. We walked out to the playground to a sea of orange and chants of "Sammy..Sammy". Amazing and very emotional!
So now it is over...except it really isn't. While we feel very lucky, we still have a long time before Sam is five years clear. We still have to draw blood and hope nothing shows up in it every month. We still have to force medicine into Sam to protect him as his body is still weakened from the chemo. We still have to have heart, major organ, and cognitive testing done to see how Sam is doing.
I don't know if I will blog all of this...I hope I do....but for now I just want to put things as far behind me as I can. Of course I can't do that really....next week is the big Light the Night walk....it means so much to us and raises MUCH needed funds for fighting blood cancers. I will never stop raising money to find a cure...to beat cancer....to know other children do not have to go through what my beautiful little boy went through. It has been a LONG ROAD indeed!
