Friday, November 28, 2008

The Eve of The Birthday!






It's the day we doubted would come tomorrow - the day Josh turns five! Last year I was thinking of moving his birthday forward as we didn't know if he'd make it through the mega-dose chemo and now it's a year later and we are having another very important day with our very grown-up little man. He is so excited about the prospect of presents and parties but for me and I am sure Peter it is a bitter-sweet day. We are so happy he will have a great time and that all his family and friends will be there to celebrate with him, but we know we will not get to celebrate another of these milestones with our brave boy, it will be his last birthday before the final goodnight we say to him.

Josh's counts are high enough for chemo now so he and I are heading up on monday morning thanks to the incredible Suzanne who just said "yep, we'll reshuffle it so you don't have to rush up here. Take your time and enjoy the party" What a star! I talked briefly to the Hospice coordinator up in ARH this morning when we were having the blood count done and we are making an appointment to meet and have a proper talk soon. I know it is something that we need to talk about and the sooner the better but it is still a real shock to the system talking to people about the impending death of your first born child.

I am hoping everything runs smoothly with the two parties, I am sure it will. Josh is over the moon that his Uncle Danny, cousins, Great Grandad, Grandad and brother could come and share the day with him, it makes it even more special.

Josh actually had the week at school this week which is the first time he has attended since the beginning of the semester when he relapsed. The school have been fantastic about things and very understanding and Josh had a ball. he had been asking to go for a while and this was the first time he has had high enough counts to do so. He loved it on Monday and Tuesday, had a tiring day Wednesday and refused to participate without very heavy encouragement in Pirate Day on Thursday. We all went in for a morning tea and it was brilliant seeing him running about with his friends and just being a little boy instead of a cancer patient.

We had a trip up to Perth due to miscommunication last Sunday and after settling in and having a count done discovering he was too low on platelets to go ahead and after getting some very much needed blood, playing madly with the lovely Louise (music therapist) and Suzanne and Benedicta sorting the mess out we promptly drove back home again! Thanks must go to my darling McKenzies for looking after the smallest member of the family while we were gone, the kids were so relieved to see him when we got back!!!

Will post birthday photos when I get home from Perth. Much love and happy thoughts "I DO believe in fairies", Immie!!

Hannah
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