Unbelievable.

Following Luis' fevers on the weekend, Monday was just fine and he went to school. For whatever reason, the fever crept back up on Tuesday morning, say about 5:30 a.m. We all got dressed, and I went to drop Julien off at the day care, only to find out that it doesn't open until 6:30. The three of us headed over to the hospital (good thing the hospital is stocked with diapers!) where we spent 7 or 8 HOURS doing tests, cultures, x-rays, but mostly waiting for the doctor to give us some feedback. Thanks to the amazing Child Life Specialists, my little monkeys found some entertainment over the long stretch. I even taught Luis some of the basic rules of a little game called Dodge Ball, like...get out of the way when I throw this ball at you. He seemed to rather like the game and developed a life skill :)

In the end, everything looked pretty good, except he likely had a throat infection. Today, he did much better and was fever-free. We also went for chemo in London. He got his usual dose of vincristine, and methotrexate via a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) while under general anesthesia.

The incredible shrinking boy

(...or so it would seem on this over-sized rocking chair)

Here's where my day no longer made sense and I'm still bewildered.

In the clinic where Luis gets treatment, there is no cell phone service. Whenever he is 'under', he has constant nurse supervision, and I use this opportunity to pick up lunch since we fast all morning. I also swing by the pharmacy for meds. So...I step out of the clinic area and my phone picks up a text message from that morning. A friend of mine who lives in the neighbourhood contacted me to tell me of her son's recently discovered brain tumour. This boy is the same age as Luis and is in his class. I was shaking when I read it. Not only do these friends only live steps away, but at the time I received the message, they were only one floor away from us in the same hospital. I immediately went over to offer my support. The family is anxiously waiting for the boy's 20 hour surgery to be successfully completed and to get a diagnosis. What made it even more surreal is that their family was in the same waiting area that I sat in while waiting for Luis' biopsy surgery to be completed about 19 months ago (right after they told me that the surgery alone had the potential to be fatal). It is uncertain if the tumour is malignant at this point, but either way, the family has a tough road ahead of them.

Please offer your prayers for this family.

--Mommy