A rather uneventful day, which is how we like ‘em around here.  Jacob continues to show real courage and a sweet spirit:  he took his chemotherapy today beautifully, actually pulling the large syringe towards his mouth with a grin.  Last night I struggled with this – here’s my boy looking me in the eye and smiling with complete trust while I, his father, feed him poison.  Jodi had some good words for me, reminding us both that the chemo has a specific job to do in this journey of healing – to wipe out Jacob’s cells.  The sickness and hair loss coming his way will be evidence that the chemo is doing its job well.  One of the nurses said the same sort of thing, that it’s really good (in a backhanded way) if Jacob experiences some chemo-related illness – it’s a concrete sign that the regimen is working according to plan.

Enough being anxious about tomorrow.  Today was a great day.  We read books, played basketball, went “fishing” for playdough, laughed, had a dance party (the boy is partial to “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show” by Neil Diamond), and played “I spy” out of the hospital window.  The docs also adjusted his itching medication after rounds and he seems to be more comfortable.   

I had some good time with Justice today too.  Short, but good.  He is easily the most laid-back person I’ve ever met.  Nothing riles him.  He just laughs.  I call him my grizzly cub because he likes it so much when I wrestle him so now when he sees me he starts yelling “cub!  cub!  cub!” while I chase after him.  Time with him, however short, is good medicine for the soul.

The highlight of the day:  Jacob and I spontaneously invented a new hospital game in which he climbs into one of the large plastic bins for storing toys and says he’s ready for a hot air balloon ride.  So I take out my cell phone and pretend to call Mr. Chet to see if it’s okay.  Mr. Chet tends to say yes.  So then Jacob makes the fire noise “whoosh!” and I pick up the “basket” and he flies around the room in his balloon Diamonds.  He looks over the edge and says he sees “lots of cool things down there.”  My back is usually good for two or three rides before it gives out and I have to start trying to convince him that playing with his dinosaurs for a while would be really fun too.

Bec did a great job staying here last night and playing with him during part of the day shift.  Jodi had some nasal drainage this morning so she was on Justice duty today and didn’t make it into the hospital.  This was hard for her but hopefully she’ll be assured by her doctor tomorrow that all is well.  The air in each of these rooms is individually double hepa-filtered so the fans really crank to keep it all circulated.  Plus, they keep the air here very dry to keep it as clean as possible.  We hope that this nasal thing was aggravated by Jodi’s being here in the room much of the day yesterday and will resolve itself tomorrow – a prayer request.

So I’m back for the night shift.  There’s some soft music and a lot of darkness and except for the nurse, the next voice I’ll likely hear is my boy’s saying, “Hey, it’s really bright in here!” like he did the last time we camped out together in room 21.  Good night.