Day 489: The kids weren't the only ones exhausted
Day 474: The better Elliott feels, the more he dislikes going to chemo. During this last treatment he refused to let me put him down and later fell asleep in my arms.
This time last year Elliott was required to spend a week in the hospital every other week while on intensive chemotherapy. For a while it even looked like we would be celebrating Thanksgiving day in the hospital. We weren't able to travel and visitors were restricted during the holidays.
This year Elliott is only visiting the oncology clinic once a month for chemotherapy, I can't remember the last time he was in the hospital, and there was never any thought on him spending Thanksgiving anywhere but with family.
Elliott continues to do well in the maintenance phase of chemo. He is growing every day. His physicians even had to recalculate his medication to account for how much he has grown since starting this phase of chemo in February. Speech therapy is going well and his vocabulary continues to grow. He tells us "I love you" so much, it would be annoying if it weren't so cute. Potty training is going well and a few weeks ago he was promoted to a new room in daycare. Whenever a family in his new room learns of his diagnosis they seemed shocked. It is great that Elliott's health has improved to the point that when people meet him for the first time they see him as a happy, healthy little boy.
Kyllan's parents hosted Thanksgiving dinner. My parents were in town, as well as two of Kyllan's cousins and their families. Add in Kyllan's sister and her family, plus a few other family friends, and it was quite the crowd. I barely saw Elliott all night; he was busy running around and playing with all the other kids the entire night. He had a great time!
Below is a picture from our trip to the Dallas Arboretum. Like the Perot Museum of Science and Nature, and the Dallas Zoo, we started a family membership when Elliott became healthy enough to be in crowds. Below that is a picture of the kids on Halloween. Elliott had a lot of fun this past month just being a kid.
Thank you to everyone for your continued thoughts and prayers.
Day 437: Laurel and Elliott at the Dallas Arboretum
Day 464: Unlike last year when health restrictions prevented him from interacting with other children, Elliott went trick-or-treating with family and friends this Halloween