Day 17: High Hopes

Took the trolley from America Plaza to Qualcomm Stadium to meet Lisa (Carl's sister) for the weekend. We were picked up in San Ysidro (the border) by a friend of a friend and got a tourist perspective on Coronado Island - where Camp Pendleton is located. Saw about 75 new recruits jogging down the road, loaded with their packs and in full greens. It was breathtaking. John is going to participate in Rocket Camp out in the desert tomorrow. He had one and a half treatments this morning and will have the same on Monday when we get back. He ends his treatments on Wednesday, then it'll take a day of travel to get home late Thursday night. I can hardly believe we're on the end of this journey. John's overall health has improved so much, it's shocking. First, from a physiological level, when we first arrived his body was not functioning very well. His blood work showed lower levels of different functions and his overall immunological functioning was horrible (a 4 out of 5, 5 being the worst). He had a reading same as some of the cancer patients. It was really scary. But, he came down fast. By the second week, he was at a 3, now he's at a 2.5. He'll have one more blood draw on Monday and we get a final reading on Tuesday. I'm so anxious to know how he's doing now. His other levels have come down, also. The only one I'm still not completely comfortable with his is thyroid levels. My side of the family has a quality history of thyroid dysfunction, so it wasn't entirely surprising to see John's numbers. However, instead of being on the LOW side like most in my family are, he's on the HIGH side. That makes me a little nervous. Granted, he's still in the normal range, just on the high end of normal. Given all his little idiosyncrasies in his body, if it's not smack in the middle of normal, I'm not happy. This is just another "thing" to get used to with him until it changes. I am focusing on the all the other positives at this time, though. I cannot believe how well his little body has taken to his treatment, how it's accepted everything it's been given (no rejection, no illness) and is continuing to synthesize all the new material. I have very high hopes for his treatment and look forward to his continued wellness. It'll be so incredibly interesting to go back in June and see where his numbers lie.
It also helps to be surrounded by such enormously positive people. How can you not think positive and have such hope when the people around you are brain cancer survivors, liver cancer survivors, people with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome completely cured, people with MS who can hardly walk when the come in yet leave carrying their own bags. The success stories go on and on. If they can improve so much, what's a little poop issue? High hopes. That's what we have.
From a "boy" perspective, John has improved a ton, also. Before we came here, John wasn't too rambunctious. He played around, ran around, yeah...but he peetered out pretty quick or would prefer to play video games or watch TV. Now he's a B.O.Y. Totally. He cannot sit still (sorry Miss Johnson), he's wrestling all the time, paying attention (I think Miss Johnson will like that!), shying away from TV. "C'mon mom! Let's go kick the ball!"
"C'mon mom! Let's go race up and down the road!"
"C'mon mom! Let's go chase the cats!"
"C'mon mom! Jump on the tramp with me!" On and on it goes. It's really, really great to see. Tiring for an old lady like me, but great. It will be nice to get home so I have someone to share the running with (get out the running shoes Carl!). Ironman can't compete with his energy level! I guess his downward trend was slow enough we didn't notice. Now that he's back to being a regular kid, I look back and see how sick being constipated made him. There's a huge difference in "going" everyday and not.
We truly have everything good to say about IBC. Even the violence that surrounds the center pales in comparison to what they can do for people. High Hopes.