Sunday, August 17th, 2008

Sunday, August 17th, 2008 - Today was another good day. Mattie and I went out to ToysRus today this morning to get a treat for all his good work taking medicines this past week/weekend. We were (of course) ready to go before the store was open, so we had to kill some time this morning by going to Home Depot for a bag of dirt, as JP (our neighbor) donated to our rapidly growing forest, another evergeen in need of more space than what a pot could provide. Once at the toy store, Mattie quickly locked in on a Lego Coast Guard boat and lookout tower. Mattie and I spent the rest of the morning building and assembling and playing with the set.

In the afternoon, Mattie and I worked on another fountain (that was supposed to be part of Vicki's birthday gift at the end of July), while Vicki ran out for a few things at the food store and to pick up some prescriptions. We had several encounters with JP and planted the evergreen. After she returned, Vicki and Mattie played for some time with the Lego set while I tended to the garden/plants.

Later in the afternoon, Mattie had a real treat as his buddy Charlotte Gehrs and her mom Ellen, came over for a playdate. The two of them spent time upstairs and downstairs playing all sorts of things. Also, Charlotte gave Mattie a Scooby-Doo DVD Board Game (this is a first for me!) that uses both a board game with cards, and pieces but also asks questions on the DVD and is interactive with the game. The two also had some pizza flavored hot pockets, juice boxes, yogurt tubes and also played with he piano and the cat. It was a real treat for Mattie to have another playdate with a good buddy as he forgets largely about his situation. God bless children and their ability to live in the moment and block out both the past and the future.

Vicki and I flushed Mattie's lines again tonight as he sat and ate an ice cream cone and watched Scooby. Mattie also took his Clotrimazole lozenger (antibiotic) and used the Biotene mouth wash (way to go Mattie!). As the effects of the chemo develop Mattie's mouth, gums, throat and airways become more susceptible to bacterial infections that someone with a regular immune system would never struggle with. So, it is important that Mattie stay clean and follow his regimen of preventative medicines. Tomorrow we are off to our first clinic appointment and will have a better idea how his white blood cell count is doing. Signing off to another good day!