Day 8 – March 26, 2022
9:00 pm: On Thursday (Day 6), our Mayo Clinic family delivered an amazing care package for Harvey and our family. All items neatly packaged in a rolling dinosaur suitcase with each pocket/compartment containing a different, extremely thoughtful surprise for us. Thank you all so much!! It’s hard to find the words to express our gratitude, so I’m hoping video will help… ❤️
8:00 pm: 🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭 It seems logical to think you can tell your child “no more!” after they’ve already had 4 hotdogs in a day. But I’m here to tell you that reasoning with a kid on steroids isn’t going to happen. He ate a part of his 5th and fell asleep. Prior to that, he excitedly opened another thoughtful gift we received, this time from his aunt & uncle, Jenny & Steve, and cousins Leo & Mylah. He loves it! He took an immediate liking to the Blippi pajamas and the matchbox fire station play set. Thank you so much for painting such a big smile on Harv’s face this afternoon!
We have caregivers for our caregivers! Our family at the house received a hot meal and playdate/respite offers from our family friends that we met in Fargo, ND while I was attending college and working at Olive Garden. (2005: Seems like a lifetime ago!) Chad, Krista, Kate, & Henry: We love you! Thank you so much! We can’t wait to be past this and see you again.
Harvey is now awake from his nap and is, you guessed it, hungry! He has continued to have an appetite between his bouts of nausea. I believe today Harvey had as much fun, relaxation, and hotdogs that are allowed in a hospital setting.
3:00 pm: Harvey is now on his 4th hotdog, and we’ve created another category on our daily activity checklist hanging on the wall. (We’ve cut him off for the day – just don’t tell him that!) He’s having a relaxing day today. All is quiet here and I’m grateful to have had him all to myself last night and this morning.
12:00 pm: We have an unofficial hotdog eating contest underway. Harvey is craving them in the worst way and has had 3 already today! Our nurse, Suzanne, laughed when she saw the third one arrive just moment ago.
10:40 am: Harvey received a spinal tap yesterday and the results are promising. He continues to show no evidence of cancerous cells having spread to his spinal fluid. His appetite is back in full force (steroid-induced hunger) and we’re managing his nausea well enough to keep most of the food in his stomach.
I recorded Harvey having a facetime conversation with his mom & sister last evening. Always entertaining to hear him and his sister exchange thoughts and reprimands!
“Don’t say ‘throw up’, Harvey! That word is not appropriate!”
Hattie
7:40 am: Breakfast in underway!
6:00 am: Good morning! Harvey had a restful night and is patiently waiting to order breakfast at 6:30 am (when room service opens for the day). He had a half hour of nausea last evening, but then started to feel better and came back to life around 7:30 pm. We ended up going for a walk, watching a Minneapolis sunset, stopping by the playroom to play with matchbox cars, and made some popcorn for an impromptu movie night. “Monsters Inc.” was his movie of choice. I had a really fun night with him while Lindsey is back home getting some much needed rest.
We typically have been getting updates on Harvey’s labs from the nurse practitioners mid to late morning. I’ll share updates from this morning’s rounds as soon as I have them, but I’m anticipating a quiet day and am looking forward to doing some fun activities with Harvey. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with us. We couldn’t do this alone.
