Almost as Good as New

Since last time I blogged, Landon has made a world of progress. Thursday they removed his epidural and gave him oral pain medicine. It was great to get rid of that since it was making him itch like crazy and we had to be super careful with him so one of us didn't pull it out just trying to take care of him. He also made a few efforts to jerk it out himself, which made things interesting. Late Thursday morning Uncle Scott, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Stallion, and Baby Abby came to visit. Abby had to hang out in the waiting room, but when we took Landon out to the garden, they had a good time together. Landon was really glad to see Abby. It definitely was too cute.

Landon refused to take a nap on Thursday until he finally just passed out sitting up doing a puzzle with Grandpa Larry at 4:30. When he woke up his pain medicine had worn out and he was hurtin' for certain. It took a little while and another nap for him to sleep it off, but when he woke up that time, he was much better. Just to make sure he didn't have to cope with that again that night, we gave him the break through medicine in between regular doses. The doctor's assured us that the medicine didn't normally make kids hyper, but Lil Land-O was up until 1:45 this morning just chatting it up. At 8:00 or so he at a few bites of mac and cheese, a chicken nugget, and a few raisins. He also said, "I just wanna get down," enough times that we finally let him do it. He walked, with Daddy's help to the window and saw the St. Louis city scape. (Our room did have a pretty nice view of Forest Park and a nice sky line) He then entertained us playing with his new computer from his uncles and aunt. Here's a video.....I think you'll agree he definitely was feeling more up to par. I also should note here, that we're not sure why it's only "Papa Jeff" he needs attention from....he was sitting the furthest away, so maybe he needed to make sure he had command of the room. I dunno.

The Kutscher half of our care team went back to the hotel while the rest of us did the night shift since we had slept the night before. Mom hopped in bed with Landon at 11:00 to watch the Incredibles AND 101 Dalmations and finally at 1:45 when I traded her places from my spot in the bed side chair, he gave in and went to sleep. He slept until almost 10 this morning, minus the few times he had to be woken up to take pain medication. Once his feet hit the floor this morning, the kid didn't stop. He slowed down only for diaper changes and to eat part of a pancake.

We got all kinds of news from doctors today. It started out that we were possibly going home (surgery team), to we were going home after our first round of chemo (oncology team), to we were staying for chemo and leaving tomorrow so they could monitor him after his treatment (surgery team), to we were going home without chemo today (oncology team.) It was a little confusing. In the end we did come home....without chemo....for now.

The oncology team is waiting for one more test to come back from the biopsy of the tumor. They're looking for a specific gene in the tumor that will determine Landon's risk. If the gene is there, he'll be standard risk, if it's not, he'll be low risk. The difference: standard risk=25 weeks of chemo, low risk=19 weeks of chemo. We've been assured though, that they both equal a 99% chance of a healthy boy. That's what we're dwelling on now. The results from that test will be in next week, oncology will call us when they get it, and we will be in St. Louis the next day for our first chemo treatment and a lengthy explanation of what the plan is.

So, we arrived here at home sweet home around 7:00 this evening. It feels good to be here. Landon got his head washed in the kitchen sink and got a really good wash cloth bath and doesn't smell like a hospital foot anymore. He's snuggled in his race car bed and we're hoping to get to our beds soon....if he stops yelling, "Mommy! I need some little bit more milk!" long enough for us to do that. :)

Thank you again to all of you for your prayers, love and support. I promise to keep updating the blog frequently and giving you updates as we have them. We also have a favor to ask everyone....in addition to everything you've already done. (I know! The nerve of us! :) ) We know everyone is really eager to help us, maybe even more so now that we're home. It's not that we don't want to see anyone, but we really need some down time. Landon needs to be healing up and doctor's orders are for no visitors for a few days. We will ALL be eager to see you and give you hugs for all that you've done for us and will continue to do, but for now, what we need most is some quiet time at home. We were thinking if we put Stella on the front step with a sign that said "please come back later....Land-O is resting" she may lick and slime each one of you. Nothing says thank you like Stella slime. ;) After watching the blog stats this week, and seeing that our page was hit more than 800 times yesterday, we thought this may be the most effective (and polite way) to explain why we may not answer the door or phone the next few days.

Again, THANK YOU. There are no words to express how supported and loved you have made us feel during this huge pot-hole in the road week we've had. Landon's bed time prayers have gotten much longer this week because we've had so many of you to say thank you for. We still need your prayers. We are very uncertain about how Landon will be effected by the chemo treatments, and what lies ahead in the next 5 to 6 months. What we do know, is that we'll be busy here at the Kutscher house taking care of our number one boy and our number two bundle of joy that will arrive before we're out of the woods with this cancer thing. But for now, I'm off to sleep in my OWN bed. Ya-hoo for that.