I got to hold Owen for awhile today. He felt like heaven in my arms. Got to see his blue eyes and kiss his soft lips. He was not awake for long today, but he did eat about 1/2 of a yogurt. We are giving him extra saline flushes when we give him his meds to help a little bit to keep him hydrated. Once the body begins to slow down, it requires far less calories and fluid, so putting Owen on an IV for hydration would actually create more problems-his heart would have to work harder, and his lungs, and he would retain fluid, etc. But giving him a few extra flushes a day only amounts to an extra ounce or two of fluid, so that little bit helps to keep him hydrated a bit more since he is not drinking much during the day.
The kids start school on Wednesday. It would have been when Owen had his first day of Preschool. He would have ridden a school bus for the first time, had his little backpack all ready, waiting with his brand new sneakers...I think about the little boy or girl who got to have his spot in the class he would have been in. Think about those kids who will be starting pre-k that day, who would have been in his class, would have been his friends.
All 4 of the major networks are airing a special this Friday called "Stand Up To Cancer". On the following website www.standup2cancer.org for a $1 donation you can launch a star for someone that you love, or add to a star that has already been created. I created one for Owen, my sweet little angel. You can view it by going to the site. Amazing that cancer research has come so far, yet so many are still dying from it, and it's treatments leave the body in a weakened condition for those who do survive. I hope that someday there is a scan that will catch cancer at its very earliest stages, promoting the chance for a cure. I hope that the treatments will be much less caustic and damaging to the body. I hope that the survival rate increases, so that parents do not have to watch their child go through treatments, do not lose their children. I hope that children will not have to suffer through surgeries, chemotherapies, radiation, infections, blood transfusions, bone marrow extraction (where they put a huge needle into each hip bone and draw out fresh bone marrow to possibly use in the future if a bone marrow transplant is needed. Oh, and before they do that, they need to do the same thing to check to see if the bone marrow is even ok to use, so the child needs to go through it twice).
Here's hoping that I get to see Owen open his beautiful eyes and hear him tell me that he loves me again. Every second I have with him is a gift. Every single second...