I would trade

Jeff is known for finding great music and yesterday he found the band Clarensau. The song that left us in tears was "I Would Trade". The song says, "I would trade all of my days to take the pain away..." a feeling we have felt countless times.

Have a listen...
Clarensau "I would trade"

Today we will go to Riley to get Ev's final two shots out of 24 in the past month. These shots are painful but effective.  Ev also seems to be more achy all over. So, taking his pain away is just one thing I wish I could do for him.

Today is also the last day of delayed intensification. We will begin maintenance on Tuesday, February 4 with another spinal tap and vincristine. His counts have to be higher to begin this phase, so my guess is we will be delayed a week and that actually sounds great to me. This is an exhausting journey, even with help from family. I can't imagine if we didn't have any breaks or date nights. Thanks to our beautifully loving family!!!

Maintenance is full of chemo drugs, but ones that can be given at home instead of at Riley. It also seems to include meds that he has already had. This phase continues for a long time. I don't have it all laid out yet, but we have about 2 1/2 years more of treatment...so somewhere in there.

We will eventually get on a schedule of going to Riley once a month, but I don't think that will truly happen until March and even then we could find our way back by how hard the chemo drugs hit. But, this phase "should" be less intense.

While writing this post, Ev climbed up behind me...