A good week but a not so good day....

We have now been in Vancouver for a week and it has been interesting, to say the least. We have had quite a bit of fun at Ronald Mc Donald House; there are a lot of little kids here, so that is always a hoot.  There were 5 four-year olds, 2 seven year olds, 2 two year olds, a one year old and Noah.  He is really good with them so they try to engage him in any sort of play, which is fun for me to watch.  Yesterday, one of the four year olds, Krystina, who has been through two cancer diagnoses in her short life, was writing up appointment slips for her dog, Bunella.  He was having a few different treatments: "chemotherapy, radioextoma (a completely made-up word) and kidney function (they do bloodwork to test kidney function)." It was absolutely hilarious.  She just cracks me up.  Noah was very amused, but he played along and I am happy to report that Bunella is doing very well, all things considered.
We have had some really good dinners here, too.  One day this week the owner of  a candy store and her friends came and put on a Mexican fiesta, complete with maracas, sombreros, fake mustaches, music and a pinata!  It was great, even though the pinata was indestructible, especially with so many little kids, it took a really long time to break! 
Noah's friend, Jasper has been in the hospital the whole time we have been here and not up to playing any games, which made Noah very unhappy.  We have been going to visit Jasper every day and every day Noah brings along his laptop and a game he wants to play with Jasper, but he was never well enough.  Until tonight, when they played for a few hours and Noah fell asleep happy. 
We have also spent quite a bit of time visiting Kiera, the little girl I wrote about a while ago, from Indonesia.  She is now here in Vancouver, at Children's.  It was a hard week; her parents received some very difficult news, so we did some crying together, but they are able to see the Lord's hand in their situation as well. They have been well supported by people here and in Indonesia, and are doing ok.  They are very thankful to everyone who has been praying and fasting for Kiera. 

For the most part, Noah's appointments have gone well; he gained a couple of kilos at home and only lost 500g this last week, he hasn't been too nauseated, he has had two LPs and they both went fine (and I got some really good photos- if you are curious what happens, I can email some photos to you, but be warned they do involve needles and spinal fluid...).   He did not, however, have a good pentamidine treatment today.  I had such high hopes, since the last one was so much better with Ativan, but no, he was very anxious, it took FOREVER and I became quite frustrated, which may or may not have helped him....  I don't know what else to do about this, he will need one of these every month until June 2014, so he had better figure out a way to handle it soon....  maybe if I could get my hands on some Ativan too, we would both be better off...

After the difficult afternoon, I needed a break and my friend Barb (Jasper's mom) provided the perfect opportunity - Celtic Fest! We went to a fabulous concert called Galway to Guadalajara. It was a melding of Celtic and Mariachi music and it was awesome!  They played separately and together and it was so fun.  There was a dance floor and a lot of people were dancing and it was perfect. 
Noah was very happy to go to the hospital and hang out with Jasper and his dad, Stephen and play Star Wars.  It was a win/win. 
Well, I am going to bed.  Tomorrow I am going to see my friend Elaine, who was medi-vac'd down here for a lot of tests.  Please pray for her, she has been having terrible headaches and vomiting; her two CT scans were clear, so they first thought she also had encephalitis, but the drugs they were giving her for that weren't working, so they need more tests to figure out what is going on.
I will keep people updated on that situation as much as I can...
Good night!