Cute story

I just have a very short and sweet story to share.  On Friday, I had to take Ty for his blood work.  Although everything came back fine during our hospital visit on Wednesday, we are still being very conservative when it comes to his platelet count, so we had it checked again later in the week. 

There is a lab at the local hospital that is open 24 hours and can provide the results within an hour or two, so we have been going there for several months now.  Everyone who works there is getting to know Ty, and they treat him very well.  I don't think they have a lot of young patients coming in, so most of them dote on Ty whenever we visit.  It's not easy, because Ty knows that it's going to hurt and he puts on quite a show every time we visit, but they try to calm him down the best they can. 

Most recently, there was a young guy working there who I have never seen before.  I would guess he is in his early to mid-twenties.  While we sat waiting for one of the nurses to come back and draw his blood, Ty was crying as usual.  To calm him down the guy offered him candy, but Ty was not interested.  Then he offered him some fruit snacks.  Ty's eyes widened and he gave a whimpering nod.  It worked!  He ate all of the purple dinosaur fruit snacks and he was happy for the time being.  When the other nurses arrived, they were so happy to see Ty and they commented on how strong he's getting (which always makes me happy).  When they saw that he liked the fruit snacks they asked the guy where they came from and he responded by pointing to his own bagged lunch.  How cute is that?  Another random act of kindness that went a long way.

I just got such a kick out of the fact that this guy even brings his own dinosaur fruit snacks to work, and that he shared them with Ty.  So sweet.  Thanks to everyone who goes out of their way to put a smile on Ty's face.  It means so much to us.

Ty is doing well.  He starts his next cycle of chemo later this week (switching from Temodar to Etoposide again) but for now he is tolerating his medication and his walking has improved.  His left arm/hand is still very weak and spastic, but his leg and his core balance has improved tremendously.  He doesn't need nearly as much support as he used to, and he can stand by himself if he holds onto something from balance.  Some day he will walk on his own again, I just know it.