Top Ten of Being Back in the Hospital

With another four weeks of hospital life staring us in the face as Spencer starts his second round of chemo, Spencer and I decided to compile a top ten list for the perks of hospital life.  In no particular order, here's the list we came up with:

10--Faster internet than home (when it's working)--I actually save uploading/downloading big files for when we're at the hospital, since it's way faster than home. 

9--Video games that Mom won't let me play at home --since both video games and young cancer patients have been pretty scarce in our house before this year, we're still trying to figure out what's what with the aforementioned young cancer patient playing certain video games given to him by friends.     

8--Endless supply of candy--Spencer has a couple of friends, an aunt,  and a Dad bound and determined that his candy jar will never go empty.    Spencer likes the Starbursts, Glen likes the Mikes and Ikes, and Lara likes the dark chocolate (you know since it's a health food and all that).

7--The ice machine!  If you're looking for ice pellet perfection....look no further than the 5th floor nutrition room at Fairfax Inova Hospital!  I think Glen actually wouldn't mind if I got him one of these for his birthday.  :)
6--Visits from cute girls--some related, some not!  

5--More time to read (especially the scriptures) --at home my life is filled with laundry, errands, taking care of kids, cooking, chores, etc, so I enjoy the quieter time in the hospital, especially in the mornings when Spence sleeps in (see #3), to get some reading done.

4--The ceiling tiles decorated by pediatric hem-onc patients when they are finished with their treatment.  They give us hope for the day when Spencer can contribute his own ceiling art. 

3--Sleeping in.  At the hospital, it doesn't really matter what time we get up, so we all take advantage.     I still like to get up at a somewhat regular, fairly early time (although not as early as when I'm at home and get up with Cami for seminary), but Glen likes to take his days at the hospital to catch up on missed sleep.  Spencer just likes to sleep as much as possible!

2--Very nice notes!...although I'm starting to get a little worried that his ego might get inflated while he's here.... 

1--The awesomely awesome massage chair in the HOPE  room, which is just what Dr. Lara orders after a night in the hospital!  The massage is intense and as close to a human massage as I've ever felt in  a machine.   

Did I mention that it's awesome? 

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Update

Great news!  Spencer's bone marrow biopsy came back clear of leukemia cells.  It doesn't change the course of treatment at all, but it does show that so far his body is responding well to the chemo. 

The homework has begun and it's A LOT!  Seven hours with a tutor each week plus homework on top of that.  It's way more than we expected, but we hope that that means they'll be more lenient when he's not feeling well. 

Thank you to friends who are fattening Spencer up  for Round 2.    He's up to a big whopping 58.2 kg (128 lbs)  now! 

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"We aren’t thankful because we are happy.
We are happy because we are thankful."

~Unknown