Anthony went for a follow-up with the orthopedic doctor yesterday and everything was fine. Maria asked if we should take him to a physical therapist for his legs (Vincristine toxicity effects). The orthopedist made him walk, run, etc, and said he looks fine.

Speaking of running, Anthony started Karate again yesterday. The karate teacher, Jeff (who raised over $6,000 for us before the surgery) was very happy to see Anthony. He also had a hockey stick signed by the all of the 2003 Devils and a puck signed by the goalie Martin Brodeur to give to Anthony. Jeff is an amazingly nice person who immediately thought to do something for us when he heard about Anthony. Visit the karate school's website at : http://www.njvadhakempo.com/.

On another note, Anthony wants to go to see "The Lion King" on Broadway for his upcoming birthday. We want to get tickets, but they are $100 each. Does anyone out there know how to get discount tickets for the Lion King?

This is the start of Anthony's second week in kindergarten. To our amazement, he loves going to school. We thought he might be a little nervous and would say he didn't want to go, but he loves it. He gets up every morning with his alarm, gets dressed and makes his bed. Most mornings he is the first one up and ready. He is always in a great mood while he eats breakfast and cooperates pretty well. He called me at work today to tell me what his homework was: he had to write 5 capital Ms, 5 lower case Ms, draw two pictures of things that start with M and write their names. He did a great job. He chose to draw and write "Me" and "Milk".

On the medical side, Anthony is finally walking without limping. I guess his leg healed well. We go to the orthopedist next Monday to check it out again. Besides that and a little cold (which Anthony, Sarah, and myself have), everything is fine.

On a sad note, one of the patients that was in the hospital at the same time as Anthony passed away on Saturday. He passed away at 9:11 PM on 9/11. To read his story and add to the amazing number of hits to his site, go to http://www3.caringbridge.org/nj/thomaspeterpaul/. The courage, composure, and pure strength of these kids is just amazing. Thomas' story should remind everyone that most of the things in life that we tend to worry about are trivial..."Will I get that promotion?"..."Why can't I afford a bigger house?"..."Look at these wrinkles on my face"... Thomas' life was brief, but as you can tell by reading his guest book, he touched many people. We should all be so lucky.

Rest in peace Thomas.

No evidence of disease! That is the final result of the 6 month CT and chest X-ray. Now we can relax a little for the next 3 months. Also, Maria took Anthony to the orthopedic, had them X-ray his leg and it is not broken or fractured. They just gave him an ACE bandage to wear for a week. They also said to come back in 3 weeks if it was not feeling better. It is most likely a bone bruise from his leg being stressed when it was compressed in the swing. He still has a nasty black-and-blue on his knee.

Everything looks good and, as always, we are thankful for every moment we have together with our kids.

Still no results on the scans. I'll take that as a good sign.

Everything is OK with Anthony so far, that is besides his leg getting caught in a wooden swing on Saturday. He wouldn't walk on it much right after it happened, but seems to be getting better. He is still slightly limping and says his shin still hurts, but he runs and walks on it. If he doesn't feel better tomorrow, we are going to take him to the doctor to see if it is fractured. Yet another X-ray, I'm sure.

We went for Anthony's 6 month scans today. We had to go to RWJ for the CT and Chest X-Ray. Anthony was as brave as always. He cooperated for everything. He listened to whatever the X-Ray technician said and did what he was supposed to do. He smiled all the way through it. He didn't smile through the CT though. They had to inject him with contrast, and he didn't like the IV being started, even though we put numbing cream on his arm in the morning. He was fine while going into and out of the CT machine (or the donut as he calls it), but was crying while they injected the contrast. he said it burned, which was confirmed by Donna (the heme/onc nurse practitioner). I have to say, though, even when he is screaming, he stays still and lets them do what they have to do. I told him he is braver than Link (from the Legend of Zelda game for all you non-Nintendo fans).

Everyone at RWJ was as nice as always. They did have a scary moment (right in front of us), though. A patient sitting in the hall waiting for a CT was complaining that he was feeling light headed. Next thing I know, he passes out and they couldn't get a pulse. They wheeled him into CT room A very quickly and yanked the crash cart in there. I heard "Code Blue, CT room A" go over the loadspeaker and about 10 people came running. After about a minute, I heard him cough and they kept saying "talk to me Mr. X, talk to me Mr. X". All this excitement led to our waiting a little while to get someone to come in the room to inject the contrast. I don't know what happened to the guy after that.

After the CT, we visited the heme/onc temporary floor. We saw Robin, Denise, Jen, Donna, Christine, and of course Peggy (the child life specialist). Anthony always loves seeing Peggy, and she loves seeing him. We stayed a little while and then Anthony wanted to have lunch with me at Wendy's. As we were driving to Wendy's, I pointed out to Anthony that they were having a sidewalk sale at Musician's Workshop. He said in all seriousness, "maybe we should go, we need a sidewalk" (we don't have sidewalks, by the way).

Now we wait for CT and chest X-ray results. I'm hoping that since we haven't heard anything that it means everything is OK. Keep your fingers crossed and keep praying...

I'm sitting here typing with Anthony and Emily. I am going to paraphrase what they tell me to type.

Anthony got his first haircut in over a year today! He was very happy and excited. Emily and Sarah also got a haircut and they were excited , too. Anthony also wants me to tell everyone that he practices drums every day.

Just a quick update and a little story.

We went to see the orthopedist about the possibility of scoliosis last week.  He said he saw no sign of it, but we should keep monitoring Anthony.  He has maybe a 5 to 10 % chance (I'll take those odds) of developing it, and if it is caught early, a brace is all that is needed.  We will go back in a year to check again.

Here's the story.  Today, Maria took the kids to meet me for lunch.  We went to the Americana Diner and had a good time.  On the way back to drop me off at work, the kids were coloring in the back seat.  Later, Maria calls me and says "Anthony had an accident in his underwear and there was blood in his urine on the underwear."  OK, who do we call, the pediatrician or the oncologist.  Maria called both, and they said to take him in to the pediatrician to do urinalysis.  While she was waiting for me to get home, she kept staring at the underwear and thinking "it just doesn't look right."  She though that maybe Anthony had a red hand-stamp that rubbed off, but he said he didn't stamp his hand.  She kept asking questions and then thought about the trip back from lunch.  She asked him "did you put a crayon in your pants?"  He said no, but kept looking away.  She asked again and said "I won't get mad, just tell me the truth".  He said "I did, but Emily started it."  Unfortunately, the crayon was reddish orange.  Needless to say, we didn't go to the pediatrician, and Dr. Cole, the oncologist on call thought it was pretty funny.  He asked if he could tell everyone tomorrow.

More gray hair by the minute...

Anthony went for his monthly checkup yesterday and everything was fine. Dr. Pan said he is looking good and doesn't want to see him for another 3 months. Anthony's bloodwork was fine, too.

Maria took Anthony, Emily, and Sarah up to the floor in the Children's hospital to visit everyone. She said that all of the kids remembered exactly where everything was and didn't miss a beat. Everyone loved seeing Anthony and he enjoyed seeing all of the nurses, Peggy, John, and Ira (the child-life people). All I have to say is that it is good to be able to visit without having to stay.

I haven't written in a while, but everything is still very good. Dr. Pan said the radiologist concurred with his reading of the scans and that everything looks normal.

Anthony had his last day of preschool today. He didn't seem too upset about it. He is excited to be going to Kindergarten. He will be riding the bus in September with Emily and two of our neighbors. I think he is more excited about tha bus than being in school.

Here's a little Anthony story: The other day, Maria took Anthony and Sarah to the plant nusery to buy some shrubs. It was a pretty hot day and Anthony was starting to sweat. He complained to Maria that he was hot and wanted to go. She explained that she needed to get a couple of things before they left. So he said, "Look at me, I'm sweating...no food...no water." It is just like the nurses at Sloan-Kettering said, he sounds like an old man.

Dr. Pan called today and said Anthony's three month scans looked good! There were no changes since the last set in Feb. and he said he was happy with them.

The scan procedure itself went fine. Anthony was crying as they were looking for a vein to do the IV contrast. The radiologist heard him and came in. She asked if we had prior scans with us, and fortunately I did bring them with me. She looked at them and said we wouldn't need the contrast. That made Anthony instantly cooperative. He did everything they said, as long as they didn't stick him with that needle.

They were pretty good over at Jersey Shore Medical. Everyone was very nice and the scans and X-rays were done very quickly. Maria did have to drive the films over to RWJ, though. Anyway, now we can sort of relax for another 3 months.

We go for Anthony's thee month scans today. We have to go over to Jersey Shore University Medical Center since Robert Wood Johnson is pulling one of its barganing tactic moves by not accepting Cigna for outpatient radiology. This whole disaster we call a health care system is really getting to me. It is probably getting to Maria even more since she is the one on the phone with Cigna at least twice a week. Anyway...we're hoping that the new radologist who looks at these films will not raise all kinds of red flags when he sees what is inside Anthony from the surgery. Maybe they will be smart enough to ask for previous films for reference. In any case, we will be taking these films back to RWJ to have their radiologist look at them. I might also ask for a copy to be sent to Memorial Sloan-Kettering to cover all the bases.

Wish Anthony well...

OK, where was I... (If you didn't read yesterday's post, read it before you read this one.)

Ah, yes...May 10th
On our second day, we went to the Magic Kingdom. This is probably the best place of all the Disney parks to take small kids. The first ride we went on was the Dumbo ride. All the kids loved it, but Anthony was making me sick by moving the elephant up and down and up and down. He loved it. We also went on the Pirates of the Caribbean. We forgot that there was a little waterfall drop while in the complete darkness. Sarah didn't like that too much. After that, she put her hands over her eyes and kept saying "close eyes, close eyes." Emily really wanted to go on "It's a Small World", since she is learning to play the song on the piano, but the ride was being renovated. We went on a few other rides, including the Haunted Mansion, which Anthony loved. But the ride that Anthony like the most was the Buzz Lightyear ride, where you try to shoot all the bad guys with a laser. We went on that one 4 times, and Anthony's high score was 120,000. We were able to bypass all of the long lines using Anthony's button or Special Assistance card. All of the employees there were so nice to us when they saw his button. Even if we were waiting on the full line, they would see that button and take us right to the front.

We decided to stay late to see the fireworks, so we ate dinner in the Magic Kingdom. We ate at Tony's Restaurant (from Lady and the Tramp) right at the entrance to the park on Main Street. Our philosophy was that we would have one full service meal a day at a nice place and avoid doing the cafeteria style thing at least once. After dinner, we went over to Tomrrowland to see the fireworks and all the kids stayed up to see the whole show. It was a really fun time.

May 11th:
We went over to Disney/MGM studios on our second full day. The first thing we did was the Playhouse Disney show. They brought us right up front and we sat on the floor next to another "Give Kids the World" family. They were from Marlboro, NJ of all places. The kids loved seeing Bear in the Big Blue House, Stanley, Rolie Polie Olie, and Pooh live. They got up and danced a couple of times. We also saw the Muppets 3-D show, which was really cool. We made it a short visit and decided to go back to the village for a while.

At the village, we all went in the pool, then Anthony and I went fishing in the lake for a bit. Nothing was caught (at least by us). We decided to try to get back to the Magic Kingdom to try to see the SpectroMagic (Light Parade) show.

We ate dinner in Cinderella's Castle and timed our exit perfectly so that we were stuck at the entrance to the castle right before the parade. They rope off the castle area before the parade so they can do the fireworks afterward. We were behind the ropes on the elevated platform in front of the castle, so we could see the parade perfectly. Emily and Anthony loved the parade, but Sarah kept trying to make an escape. After the parade, we went on the Buzz Lightyear ride two times in a row.

May 12th:
We decided to take a break from Disney, and we went to Sea World. It was a very relaxing day there, since it is all shows and no rides. It was also less crowded than the Disney parks. We saw a Sea Otter show and the Shamu show. They loved seeing the huge killer whales splash people in the first 14 rows. That's right, 14 rows got soaked with 52 degree water. It's a good thing we decided not to use the button to get into the first section again.

We ate lunch at the Sharks restaurant, where our table was up against a giant (660,000 gallon) shark tank. We have a couple of pictures with the kids eating as a shark swims by (check out the pictures section).

We left the park at about 4PM and headed back to the village, where we ate dinner in the Gingerbread House. We had some ice cream afterwards and then played miniature golf at Marc's Dino Putt. It is a dinosaur themed golf course with lots of surprises that tended to scare the kids. At one hole, Emily hit her ball into the cup and a dinosaur squirted Anthony in the neck with water. He was a little surprised. I think they like being a little scared, because they kept begging to go again.

The kids finally went to bed at a decent hour. Or, at least we put them to bed at a decent hour. We heard them all cracking-up for quite some time after we left the room (they all slept in the second bedroom together).

May 13:
Back to the Disney parks. This time, we went to Animal Kingdom. It was very crowded. The walkways are much narrower than many of the other parks to give it a jungle feel, but it just makes it difficult to get around. The big hit of this park was the African Safari ride in a real jeep, with real animals roaming around outside the jeep (no fences). They saw a lion, some zebras, Thompson's Gazelles, monkeys, and many more cool animals.

We left Animal Kingdom early and headed over to Epcot for a while. The kids played in a fountain area for a while and got soaked. They really loved that. Maria and I just sat in the shade and watched. We walked around the World Showcase, listened to some music, ate some food, and relaxed for a while. The kids liked running around some of the areas and liked the Mexico water ride a lot.

At one point, I was walking back from the bathroom and saw Maria waving to me, trying to tell me something. As I walked across the path, two golf carts passed by me about 5 feet away. I looked into the first cart and thought..."that looks a lot like George Bush, Sr." When they passed, I looked at the back of the cart and though..."that looks a lot like Barbara Bush." That is what Maria was trying to tell me. We are certain the it WAS the George Sr. and Barbara. They passed by again and I got video of Barbara, but only the back of George's head.

We stayed late again and watched the fireworks. We were kind of far away, so we couldn't see the stuff in the water too well. When they were over, we raced out of the park to get onto the monorail before the crowd made it out.

When we first planned our stay, we weren't going to go to Epcot, since there isn't a whole lot for little kids, but I'm glad we did. We had a good time there.

May 14th:
We headed over to Universal, where the kids were excited about seeing the Nickelodeon area. We went on the Jimmy Neutron ride first. They loved that one. We then went into the Slime Time Live show, where Anthony was picked to do a game for the Blue team. The host asked his name, how old he was, and where he was from. Amazingly, he answered right away and then turned to us with his big smile and waved. He was so proud of himself. Sadly, though, the blue team didn't win. He didn't care.

Later, Maria went on the Back to the Future ride with Emily and Anthony while I walked around with Sarah. We grabbed a bite before we had to head to the airport. Oh, the airport...

Our flight was supposed to be delayed until 8:50PM (from 6:50PM originally) and we got to the airport at 4PM (with Sarah!!)! We took off around 7:30PM after all. Sarah was quite a handful in the airport and on the plane. She would not stay in one place at the airport. If we let her go, she would have run through the entire terminal without looking back. She screamed for a long while on the flight when Maria tried to keep her in one place to go to sleep. In the meantime, behind us, a little girl was vomiting. A lovely flight all around.

Then, we arrive at Newark airport. That airport needs a complete overhaul. After taxing for what seemed like an hour, we get to the gate and there was no one to wave us in. We sat about 100 yards from the terminal for about 10 minutes. We then went to the baggage carousel where it took almost an hour to get our bags. The stretch limo took us home again, but we only arrived at 1AM. Altogether, from the time we left Universal, until the time we got home, it took about 10 hours. That is about 2/3 the time it would take to drive all the way, non-stop. Next time, I think we'll drive.

Well, we're back from Anthony's Wish Trip. Everyone had a great time! The "Give Kids the World Village" is really a great place that deserves every donation dollar it gets. If you are looking for a good charity, "Give Kids the World" would be a great one.

I'll go over the trip day by day for those who like to read my long and boring posts.

May 9th:
A stretch limo came to get us at 6AM. We got everyone up just 15 minutes before that, threw on their clothes and got into the limo. The kids were excited about the limo ride and didn't fall asleep the way we thought they might. Once we got to the airport we checked-in and stood in Continental's ridiculously long line to have our bags screened with the CTX scanner. They had 5 machines that I could see, but only one that was operational. That's Newark Airport for you (wait till you read about the return trip). We got on the plane at about 8:45AM and were in the air at about 9:30AM. The flight was fine, with Sarah falling asleep and Emily and Anthony playing Gameboy and coloring. Once we arrived, we took the monorail from the gate area to the main part of the Orlando airport. Sarah enjoyed the monorail ride about as much as any ride at Disney. She would say "wheee" and "whoa" as we were riding.

A greeter (Ruth) from "Give Kids the World" came to meet us, help us with our luggage, and get the rental van. Ruth was great and helped us out quite a bit. She took Anthony and Emily by the hand and helped us get over to our van. She is a volunteer, just like the many, many other great volunteers at the village. If I can remember right, there are about 1,000 (that's right, 1,000) volunteers and 90 full time staff members at the village. It is a truly wonderful thing that these people do. It really makes you feel good about the human race.

After we got the car, we drove to the village (about 10 miles), where they gave Anthony a big stuffed Mickey, and gave Emily and Sarah a stuffed Shamu the killer whale from Sea World (more about Sea World later). They gave us a map of the village and told us all about it. Here's the short version of what's there. They have 2 swimming pools, a lake stocked with fish, a movie theater, a mini-golf course, an arcade, and a train ride for the little kids. You don't have to pay to do any of these things. While you're there you eat at the Gingerbread House, a cafeteria-style dining hall staffed with all volunteers. They also have an ice-cream palace that is open all day (9AM-9PM) where you can get all the ice cream you can eat (donated by Friendly's). The Castle of Miracles has a Merry-Go-Round right outside of it, and inside, they have games and books for the kids. On the ceiling of the castle, they place a star with each wish child's name. There are currently about 11,000 stars on the ceiling. Now, Anthony has his own star there.

After we got the intro, we went over to our villa, which is a two bedroom, two bath apartment with a kitchen and a living room. The bath room had a giant Jacuzzi where we gave all three kids a bath at the same time with plenty of room to spare. Each villa has two apartments in it, each with its own driveway. The kids made themselves at home right away. After we unpacked a bit, we went over to the pool, where all three kids had a ball. Every day, even when we were at Disney, they asked to go back to the village to go to that pool.

That night, at about 8PM, they had an orientation where the gave us the tickets to the parks. We had 3 day park-hopper passes for Disney World (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Disney/MGM studios), a 1 day park-hopper pass to Universal Studios two parks, and a 1 day pass to Sea World. They also explained how, by showing Anthony's "Give Kids the World" button at the parks, we could get a free stroller rental and bypass all the long lines for the rides. It was amazing what that little button would do.

I think that is about it for day one. I'll write about day 2 tomorrow, since it is 11:30PM right now, and I'm still recuperating from our vacation and I need to go to sleep.

Anthony and I went over to MSKCC today for a follow-up with the surgeon. He took a look at the scans from Robert Wood Johnson and felt the area around Anthony's scar. He was very happy with the progress so far and thought that all the flap over the scans earlier was nothing. He said Anthony looked very good and the scar looks very good. He also said we should make an appointment with an orthopedic doctor to keep track of possible scoliosis in the future. This is because as Anthony grows, the patch that is in his chest will not expand and may cause his spine to start curving. We may have to eventually have the patch replaced when Anthony is in his teens, but Dr. LaQuaglia mentioned that it might never be necessary.

A couple of times during the visit, Dr. LaQuaglia said he was "very encouraged" by the progress. I still hold on to his original statement from right after the surgery when he said he was "very optimistic" about Anthony's chances. It is funny how you tend to think about these little off-the-cuff remarks. I still remember one of the first things Dr. Pan said to us right after Anthony's diagnosis. He said, "I don't see anything we can't fix." For the longest time, I kept that thought in my head. When I would think the worst thoughts, I would crowd them out with these matter-of-fact statements. It was the only way to keep my sanity. I only hope that the doctors know how much weight their small remarks carry.

Anyway, at the end of the visit, Anthony finally spoke up and asked if he could have a lollipop for himself and his sisters (such a nice boy). After the visit, we had lunch at McDonald's on 1st Ave at 69th street and then visited the Ronald McDonald house on 73rd street. I really love spending time with him. He is funny, smart, and one of the sweetest kids I know. It is really a joy just being with him. I love the way he talks and talks and talks when he is excited. Most of the time, it is such a pleasure being with him, Emily, and Sarah. If I could quit my job, I would do it in a heartbeat just so I could be with them all day long.

On a last note, this was the first time in almost a year that Anthony was able to use shampoo on his head. He finally has enough hair to wash with shampoo! He was very happy about this.

I forgot to write an update saying that the surgeon visit was postponed. First, they postponed it to April 22nd, then to April 29th.

Anthony is doing well. He had a lot of fun today, outside with the neighborhood kids. They ran around, played on the swings, played street hockey, rode bikes, and "chilled" (as Anthony said) in their clubhouse under a tree. His hair is starting to come back! You can see his eyebrows and eyelashes now. He is excited about it.

We're getting ready to go to Disney, too. Everyone is very excited about that. Maria has bought some clothes for the kids to wear in Florida and we've been looking at guide books to figure out what we should see first.

I'll post a picture of Anthony's head in the next couple of days, and I will do an update after the visit to the surgeon.

Today was a clinic day. Everything looks good. The counts were: hemoglobin 13!, white blood count 5400, platelets 342000!, ANC 2322. Anthony was happy to see everyone (even Dr. Pan, although Anthony never talks to him) and everyone was happy to see Anthony. Since Emily doesn't have school this week, she went, too. Of course she made two arts & crafts projects. Sarah didn't want to leave and Maria had to drag her screaming from the clinic.

Dr. Pan said Anthony still doesn't have any reflex response and that it may take 4-5 months until he recovers from the effects of the Vincristine. This means he will still walk and run funny (toe to heel) and may have constipation problems for a while. Oh well, right now, we're just thankful that he is OK.

Things have been going well here! Anthony is back to his same old self. He's been diving on the couch and has been enjoying bath time now that he can get all the way into the water. In general, he has been in such a good mood lately. I guess he is just happy to be feeling semi-normal again. Here's a glimpse into life around here:



Also, since I last wrote, we had a birthday party for Emily. She wanted to do yet another bowling party (our 3rd). They all had fun, and Anthony got the high score again.

Next on the schedule, a clinic vist on Tuesday, April 6th. Just a check-up and bloodwork. I'll be sure to report the results. After that, we have a follow-up with the surgeon on April 15th.

The Broviac is out! Everything went well. I stayed with him in the OR with Peggy until he went to sleep. Peggy kept him distracted while they were setting up all of the anesthesia parephenalia. It took about an hour from when I left the OR until he was in recovery. This time, he was still asleep when we went to see him there. After about 15 minutes, he woke up and sat upright. He just looked around, probably thinking "where am I?" He was fine and was talkative until he noticed he had an IV in his hand. Once that was out, he was better and was dressed and ready to go within 10 minutes. Maria and Sarah came to the hospital after dropping-off Emily at the bus, so they were both there to see him right after he woke up. When I put him down, he immediately chased after Sarah.

We went upstairs to visit everyone in heme/onc. They all cheered when Anthony walked in the door. Anthony was happy to ride the tricycle around the floor without being attached to an IV pole. Before he left, Robin, Donna, and Peggy all gave him big kisses. He didn't put up too much of a fight.

When Emily got home from school, Anthony lifted his shirt to show her that he had no tubes. She was jumping around, giving him hugs, and saying "yeah Anthony!". She said she was thinking of him all day in school, but said she wasn't worried, because nothing ever happens to him. She made a card for him in school and had the kids in her class and the teacher sign it for him. It has a picture on the front of her and a caption describing what it is: "This is me carrying balloons for you." Inside she wrote: "To day is your speshl (special) day because you get your toobs (tubes) out!"

We celebrated by going out to Anthony's favorite restaurant, Friday's. The dinner was courtesy of the Parents and Staff from Briar Hill Preschool. They gave us a gift certificate a couple of weeks ago, along with some flowers and a nice card. The kids always have a lot of fun when we go out to dinner.

When he was going to sleep tonight, though, he said he was sad that he didn't have tubes anymore. I guess he got used to them being a part of him for almost a year and it now seems weird to not have those things dangling out of his chest.

We go tomorrow to have the Broviac removed! Anthony is excited. Emily made a chart with a countdown to "toobs out". He puts a check next to each passing day. I hope the snow doesn't affect our scheduled time, or postpone this.

On another note, I just thought I would give a glimpse into our daily life with two little stories.

The other day, Maria was standing near Anthony while he was playing on the computer. He turned to her and said "I love you Mommy". She went to kiss him and this is what he said: "stay away, I'm sterile."

On Sunday, we were getting ready to give all three a bath, and I was in Anthony's room, getting clothes for him to wear. In walks Anthony with the bath visor on his bald head. He keeps walking around going "quack, quack, I'm a duck...quack, quack, I'm a duck..." Next, Sarah walks in with Anthony's ski hat on. She starts spinning around in circles. Then Emily runs in the room, naked, and says "tada". So, we're standing there with one child repeating "quack, quack, I'm a duck", another one spinning in circles and falling down, while wearing a ski hat over her eyes, another child running around naked. Controlled chaos, as Maria likes to say.

Today was the last clinic day for a month! Anthony went to get bloodwork and to check how his blood is coagulating so he can get the Broviac out. They had to take blood from his arm, not the Broviac. Maria said he cried, but kept his arm still without her holding it. He is a very brave boy and is mature beyond his years. I asked him later if it hurt and he said no, because he had the cream (LMX lidocain cream) on his arm. Maria doesn't know what she is going to do with her time on Tuesdays now.

He is scheduled to have the Broviac out next Wednesday and I will be going with him, by request.