95) ?, Trinket, pink shirts, and snow

Currently, we’re looking squarely in the rearview mirror at steroid week. Unfortunately, it doesn’t feel like it’s over. It’s 9 days after E’s last steroid dose, and he’s still unusually difficult, overly scream-y, and experiencing sleep issues. He doesn’t want to go to sleep at night, and he wakes up so early. Just the other night, he didn’t fall asleep until around 11pm, and he was wide awake the next morning at 6am. We know his regular personality, and he’s acting so out of character. It’s frustrating, because we know who we’re seeing right now is not the real E. Is he still being affected by the steroids, or is it just a terrible twos thing? Am I overthinking again? Probably.

Today was a busy day. There was a snow event that dropped 10 – 15cm of snow on the ground for the GTA, and we had several appointments, so there was lots of running around. It really seems like we've had snow, freezing rain, rain, or a combination of all three every Wednesday since January. I'm done. Bring on spring.

Near whiteout in Scarborough

It was #PinkShirtDay today in support of anti-bullying initiatives, and we sent J off to school with a pink t-shirt over his long sleeve shirt. I also wore one too, and he was quite happy that we were “twins”.

Daddy and J in our twin shirts for #PinkShirtDay

Today was bloodwork day at the pediatric oncology clinic in Scarborough. Normally, E gets a finger poke, but today he was accessed through is port. At our previous appointment, E was accessed to give him vincristine, and also to take blood for a CBC. E was being miserly last time, and there was no blood return from his port, so our nurse practitioner & RN wanted to access him at the next appointment, which was today’s one. Things like this will occasionally happen in maintenance, since they are only accessed through their port once per month. This can cause a bit of clotting on the inside, and will sometimes prevent blood return. At the end of a port access session, the port is always flushed with saline, and locked with heparin, which is an anticoagulant. I guess the heparin from the last appointment did the job, because things worked this time. As always, the deal with the kids is as follows: they get chemo and/or have blood taken, and then they get access to the treasure chest, where they get to choose a toy. This was E’s toy selection today:

Nella The Princess Knight's unicorn, Trinket

In case you were wondering, yes, that is Nella The Princess Knight’s unicorn Trinket. And, no, I don’t care if my sons play with stereotypical “girl toys”. I laughed at E’s choice because just this morning, he ripped a page out of a colouring book that was a picture of Trinket. E got my attention, and said “horse”. I guess he was thinking about a horse, saw one, and wanted it. I love it!

Near the end of the day, we ended up at my in-laws’ house, and had dinner. My father-in-law baked a couple of loaves of cornbread that tasted amazing, and I ate too much of it. Okay, it was a mix of wheat & corn, but who’s counting.

One last thing before I wrap up this post, and it kind of blew my mind. E and I were playing with blocks. The blocks had various numbers, letters, and pictures on them. I noticed a block that had some symbols on it, including a “?”. I showed him the “?” and asked him what letter it was. He knows his letters, he knows his numbers up to 20, but we haven’t taught him symbols, and I was SURE he would be stumped. I was absolutely astounded when he replied “eckin mar” (question mark). I’m still scratching my head as to where he learned it.