Whew! It has been a bit of a whirlwind the last few days!  To begin with, Noah went to the first 3 days of school and had trumpet lessons and playdates, etc. After a full day of school, he and I flew into Vancouver around 10:00 pm on Thursday night.  We went straight to RMH only to find that they weren't expecting us! Thankfully there was a room available so we could crash and figure it all out in the morning.  Turns out (we found out at noon the next day) there was a bit of a mixup - the person who is in charge of booking at RMH had booked us into Easter Seals because there wasn't any room at RMH and thought she had left us a message informing us.  Needless to say, I didn't get said message and was very confused when Easter Seals called me on Friday morning asking why we didn't show up the night before and did we still need the room until the 30th?  (What???) Anyway, long story short, it is all figured out now and we can stay at RMH for at least 2 of the 3 weeks we need to be here.  (Yay!) 
The next thing that happened was chemo.  Noah is on to the next phase of treatment called Delayed Intensification. This entails a Lumbar Puncture on the first day, a dose of Doxorubicin (the one that will likely make his hair fall out and can cause damage to his heart)Vincristine and Dexamethasone, a steroid similar to the Prednisone he was on the first month, only he will get double the dose.  The side effect list that comes with the Dex is scary: everything from weight gain and stretch marks to vascular degeneration of his hip joint.  One of the ones I really hope doesn't happen (well, besides heart damage...)  is mood swings.  Apparently some people get really grumpy and angry on this drug.  : (       I really don't want to lose my sweet boy... I know it would only be temporary, but it would be hard to see that.  Please pray with me that he will be protected from all these side effects, especially the damage to his heart.  Weight gain would be just fine with me, however....

Noah was also supposed to get his monthly dose of Pentamidine, the inhaled antibiotic that he hates because it tastes awful and leaves a thick feeling in his mouth.  The respiratory therapists always start with Ventolin, which is the drug that is in a puffer, to open up his airway.  I didn't know this but every time he has had Ventolin, his heart rate goes up.  I have never paid attention to this and no one has ever told me.  This time his heart rate went up to 157 bpm (beats per minute) and that is resting! It was a bit freaky because it just wouldn't go down! After about an hour they decided not to do the Pentamidine because his heart rate was still at 130-140 bpm.  At about 4 it was down enough (and looked like it was on a downward trend) that we could go. They unhooked him from his IV and deaccessed him (took the needle out of his VAD). He had been playing a computer game and wanted to finish the level so we stuck around until he was done.  Just before we were going to leave, he felt really sick and threw up.  And threw up. And threw up.  The nurse tried to give him some more anti- nausea meds but to no avail, he just kept vomiting.  Poor guy. I felt so bad for him.  Also, of course, his heart rate went back up, too.  The docs did a quick assessment and decided that he needed to stay overnight.  So we went up to 3B and got settled.   I am starting to feel so at home there I know where the extra pillows are kept (read: hidden), and where a good place to find a mug is, etc.  It is really sad, lol! 
I went back to RMH to get stuff and properly check in, sign all the papers, etc and surprise! There were tickets to the BC Lions game in our folder!!  I was not hopeful that Noah would be out in time to make it to the game, so I put it to my Facebook prayer warriors.  The last time Noah went in because of vomiting, he was there for 3 or 4 days, so I thought there was no way he would be out in time.  The last time he threw up was midnight, so in the morning I asked the nurse about the game and she said they were talking about discharging him but even if they didn't, he could probably get a pass to go to the game.  That was cool, and he was so excited.  Then they came and said that if he could keep something down, they would discharge him!  He ate a small muffin and drank some tea. And kept it down.   Thank you Lord! Like someone said, that is the power of prayer!
He was so happy.  He really wanted to go; he had never been to a CFL game before.  He would have been happier if it had been Winnipeg playing, but oh well.  (He likes the Blue Bombers because they have a cool name.)
It was crazy and crowded -25,000 people were there! And it was SO hot! We are both a little sunburned, but it was totally worth it!  We had seats 7 rows up from the Lions sidelines at the 35 yard line.  It was very fun. Thank you to Tim Hortons, who donated the tickets. 
Tomorrow morning the Board of Directors is making us brunch!  The menu looks amazing. I am excited; I love breakfast....

This week and next Noah has to go for his Asparaginase injections again. That is the one where he was allergic to the IV one, so they have to do the 12 injections in his quadricep over 2 weeks.  Then on Friday he gets more Doxo. Please pray it doesn't make him vomit like that again.
We will have a bit of diversion, however: this week the grade 12s from BVCS are coming to Vancouver to attend the Bard on the Beach festival, and they have invited us to a couple of plays. I absolutely LOVE Shakespeare, so I am super excited about this. Noah so far, not so much. But he just doesn't know what he has been missing.  I am confident he will enjoy himself, as long as he is feeling alright.  We aren't going on Friday. 

Well, I am tired.  Good night, all!  Have a great Sunday!