Tuesday, April 27, 2010 - Great Day!

Joe had a great day today. He actually asked to eat pancakes this morning and we were thrilled. We headed off to the 10 am radiation appointment and his next request was to go with me to park the car in the parking garage and walk through the tunnel at the Klabzuba building. The last two times I dropped him off at the front entrance, and Kevin had to push him in a wheelchair to the doctor's office. Today he marched ahead of us with a little pep in his step. He said "Hi" to the receptionist and the rest of the medical staff with a smile on his face. He jumped up on the table in the radiation room and was in a great mood. It was such a relief to see this change after the past weekend of vomiting and listlessness. It reminded us that there will be some hard days ahead but that good days will follow.

Today was the day my neighbors and some special friends graciously arranged to have my house cleaned. Since it is a little hectic to have 4 boys, 2 parents and 2 grandparents remain in the house while it is being cleaned, we arranged for a variety of activities that took us away from our home. My parents took Ben, Will and Caleb to our "in-town Grandparents'" house down the street for some outdoor county fun. They road around the pasture in the Mule four wheeler, fished in the tank pond, threw cow patties, chased Todd the donkey and ate with Pampa and Grammy Post. Grandma and Grandpa Zeller got the morning off to run some errands and celebrate their 52nd Wedding Anniversary...I think they deserved and needed a day off, too. Did I tell you it can get a little busy around here homeschooling 4 boys:) Anyway, Joe felt a little left out since he was not included in those exciting plans so we tried to have some fun with him since he was feeling so good today. After his radiation treatment he mentioned he was hungry and wanted a bagel so we jumped on that. Anytime he says he is hungry these days we are ready to bend over backwards to find something he likes. We stopped at Yogi's in Fort Worth and let him pick out a blueberry bagel. Then we went to a friend's house in Tanglewood, an old neighbor we used to live across the street from, and visited on her back porch and played a little ping pong while Joe enjoyed his bagel.

As Joe gets to feeling better it will be hard to hold him back from jumping in to play. At least in a couple of months his surgery incision should be healed and he should be able to do more activities as his energy level will tolerate. We did let him hit the ping pong ball a few times without getting too crazy. When we left, he said he was hungry and again we jumped. He wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so we rushed over to Panera Bread before the urge went away - he ate about half his sandwich, which still thrilled us. He started to seem a little tired but insisted on stopping at Game Stop on our way home to use a gift certificate he received from the Burleson Bandits (a baseball team he played against this summer - Thanks Bandits!) Again, he perked right up when we got to the store and enjoyed carefully selected 3 new games for the Wii. He was having fun! As we drove back to Aledo, Joe wanted to stop at Hot Chocolate (a chic boutique in town)to say hello to our neighbors since he was out and about and feeling so good. Joe got to walk around outside with their young daughter over to the park at the community center. He wasn't able to play at the park but I think it made him feel like it was a more normal day and he was a more normal kid. He was having fun and he even said, "This is a great day." When we got home, Ben was still at our "in-town Grandparents'" house, so I took him over to fish for a few minutes, ride the Mule in the pasture, and play with Pampa and Grammy Post...just like his brothers got to do. When Pampa said they had hot dogs for lunch and there were two left, Joe said I want to eat them both. Again, we jumped at the opportunity and sure enough, he ate both hot dogs. He consumed more food today than he has in over a week. This was a great day and I he should sleep well tonight. Kevin and I were very encouraged. We too had a great day with Joe. God, thank you for answering prayers!