Waiting...

It's strange how animals sometimes instinctively know when something is wrong.

Little Ashely was one of the feral kittens that was living in our backyard.  I told the story here.   It seems his mother left him behind and took his litter mates away for a few days.  Ashley was crying in the garage, so we caught him with a humane trap and brought him inside.  He hid under the bed in the guest room and wouldn't come out.  At the time Reid was having radiation and was very tired so he offered to go in that room and sleep.  Eventually, he lured Ashley out from under the bed.  Ever since Ashely follows him around the house and sits outside his bedroom door and cries.

Reid has been in severe pain with the recurrence of his Hodgkin's.  Ashely seems to know and stays even closer.

Reid's pain has gotten continually worse and on Tuesday I went down to MD Anderson and got a prescription for the stronger medication.  It didn't help and today when he had his appointment with the Oncologist he got another prescription that he can use along with the first one.  It's taken the edge off, but he's still in a lot of pain.  He'll be seen in their pain clinic on the 25th.

He's been told that he'll need a stem cell transplant which will give him a 50-50 chance of being cured.  Hopefully, next week he'll have a biopsy and then the chemo can begin shortly thereafter.  We're assuming this is a recurrence of the Hodgkin's and not something else, but a biopsy is necessary.

He'll also be seen in their brain and spine clinic on the 22nd to see if they think he could benefit from radiation to the spine.  And he's set up with an appointment with an interventional radiologist on the 28th.

It isn't easy watching your child in this kind of pain...no matter how old the child.  I've been on the verge of pulling a Shirley MacLaine on more than one occasion.  He's been through so much this past year and yet he still manages to smile.

Now Reid waits for word on when "Plan B" can be implemented.  Ashely waits at his side.

Thank you for your warm thoughts and prayers.