Games!!

Over the weekend, I played Checkers a few times with William. 

Tonight, I am playing Uno with Eleanor. 

I forgot how much fun such a simple childhood game could be. Especially when they are accompanied by giggles and chatter. 

Hair Loss

This past Saturday, I noticed that Gordon had a 'swish' where his hair had really thinned, just above his left ear.

I also noticed quite a few short hairs clinging to the shower walls. 

Yesterday morning, Gordon rubbed his head and made it rain hair. 

By the time I got home, this is what his head looked like:

Mostly all there on the right, except for where his scar is....

Mostly all gone on the left. 

Poor guy. He looks like he has mange!

I offered to shave the rest of his head last night, but he declined. Perhaps I'll convince him to let me do it tonight or tomorrow. 

Ice cream magic

Grace bought an Ice Cream Magic for Dianna for Christmas. It is a plastic ice cream cone shaped thingie in which one makes a single serving of homemade ice cream. It was an instant HIT!  Such a hit that everyone else wanted one too. 

Last week, when I went to the pharmacy to pick up a couple of Gordon's prescriptions, I saw that they were on sale for only $4.99!  I picked up the last three they had. Now, all four of the kids can make their very own dessert!

Posting quandry

I don't know what to do with this blog.  I want to keep writing in it, but don't know what to write.  I don't want this to turn into a Medical Journey blog, though I'm not against writing about Gordon's journey.  I feel weird when I try to think about other topics to write about right now.  It's hard to come up with other stuff (regular, everyday, MUNDANE stuff) when Gordon's journey is all that consumes me most of the time.  

With any luck, I'll figure out what to do in the next day or so.  I hate that you are probably coming back here, day after day, and not finding anything new to read.

Bump in the road

Early on in Gordon's recent medical journey, I was talking with Mom. She warned me that there will be bumps in the road ahead. His recovery and treatments wouldn't always be easy, but that we'd get through them. 

Just this week we encountered a bump in the road. 

Gordon was diagnosed with Shingles.  He'd had some pain in his back and side for a few days. The nurse at the radiation clinic noticed that he was developing a rash on his back Tuesday afternoon. By the time I got home from work Tuesday evening, the rash was spreading. I took pictures of it with my phone and emailed the oncologist's PA to see if she thought it might be a side effect of one of his medications. She called us just after 9:30pm to say that she was certain it is shingles and that she'd called in a script for antiviral meds that I should pick up to start him on right away. 

Thankfully we caught this pretty early. I know from my own experience that shingles is very painful -- I had it when I was in Middle School. Unfortunately, the oncologist wants for Gordon to stop his chemo meds for 7days, to give his body time to heal. 

Just a bump in the road.