He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
- Isaiah 40:29-31

Sunday, June 14, 2009

That wasn't supposed to happen.

We have participated in Relay for Life for the past three years. In case you aren't aware, relay is an all night event. The idea is that cancer never sleeps and therefore for one night neither do we. The first year, the kids were so little we decided to call it a night early. Last year, a major storm came through the area and relay ended before it really began. This year....


This year we were ready. Jeff and the gang (you know who you are!) built a giant ship. We were making cancer set sail. Our team was full of wonderful friends and family that mean so much to us. Joshua was carried through the survivor lap upon my dad's shoulders. The evening had started and we were ready to relax and enjoy until...

Until Joshua was crawling out of a tent and fell on his arm. My father in law heard the break and if you could have seen his arm, there was no doubt it was broken. Now, I do not usually panic. I know what to do when Joshua has a fever, infection, problems or anything cancer related. Broken bones are not cancer related and I was lost. Where do we go? To Hopkins or the closest hospital. Before I could even get off the phone with Hopkins oncology, the ambulance was on the way.

To make a LOOOOOONNNNNNGGGG story short, Joshua had a severe break to both bones in his left forearm. We spent a very long night at Hopkins after arriving by ambulance. The doctor took an hour to set the arm and he wasn't even able to have it set until about 10 hours after it was broken. He is now home with a bright blue cast. He will have the cast for about 6-8 weeks and we've added yet another doctor to our regime just because we don't have enough. Oncology will let me know tomorrow how we are to proceed with chemotherapy. He was due to be admitted for his last scheduled inpatient chemo on Tuesday.
I just wanted to say thank you to all of our friends and family that donated, supported and came out for Relay. You all are the best and your friendship means the world to us. We would not know what to do without all of you!

Before the fall


After

1 comments:

Brenda & Tylar said...

Look at you smiling still after going through all of that! I can't imagine why I can look in the dictionary under the word "inspirational" and not see a picture of your family! I loved spending the time with you boys Saturday. Tylar and I both did! You definately were the star of the show! You don't know how many people called and asked about you Joshua when I got to work this morning. You definately made a place in the hearts of everyone that saw you on Saturday! We love you very much! It was wonderful to see you with all 4 of your grandparents and having so much fun!