Team ARRGH!!!

Jack led a team of pirates to plunder for the ACS. We formed a Relay for Life team. We sold shirts and items on CafePress, collected various donations, and made ice cream for the event itself. Not too shabby for our first attempt.

Bacillus

So another cancer complication... If you have plastic in your body it WILL inevitably get infected. UUGH!!! Jack got a line infection with the bacteria Bacillus. It was taking too long to "clear" so his line was pulled. He got another placed before going into long term maintenance.

Good points about this stay was that Jack made some new friends. He met Cody, Tristan, and Andy. They all seemed to play well and, since they were on 6A, there was a playroom for them to use. It was great to see these three kids running all over the halls. Though I am sure there were some parents who wanted us to reign them in a little better.

A Vanderbilt Christmas.... The Hospital, Not the Family

Well, we all spent Christmas in the hospital with Jack. He went in December 21 and was there through Christmas and New Years. It all started with a fever and line infection. Since his counts were rock bottom we had to stay until his counts began to show  an "upward trend."

The pics you see include our home "photo session" in the SpongeBob 'jamas next to Jack's own Christmas tree. Then Santa came down our street and let Jack get in the sleigh with him. There are also pictures of Jack in the hospital spreading Christmas cheer, getting visits from Santa, and opening presents. The big bag-o-gifts delivered by Santa are from the hospital and include special gifts from Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Jack kept saying "Oh, Thank you, Santa, Thank you." The final Santa pic is "Dr. Santa" one of our favorite Heme/Onc attendings, Dr. Engel, who came to give us the depressing news Christmas morning that we were stuck there.

All in all, the day wasn't as bad as it could have been. We actually ended up seeing more family over Christmas than we would have seen otherwise.