Never Give Up

   This week has been fairly uneventful for Clayton, Praise the Lord. We headed to the clinic to get his outpatient chemo yesterday, which went incredibly well.  Once again, no screaming, kicking or crying.  Hooray!  The sweet staff at Sanger Avenue all wore their "Clayton Wins" shirts and presented Clayton with a Baylor football signed by RG III and Kendall Wright.  RGIII Wrote the words "Never Give Up" right above where he signed his name.  How exciting!!  After chemo we headed to see "Chimpanzee".  It was a really cute show that Clayton loved.
    The picture below is our experience when I took Clayton out to the suspension bridge to feed the ducks earlier this week.   We are really looking for "field trips" and learning experiences to get us out of the house, but also away from crowds.  While his counts aren't terrible, they're not the best they could be either.  We just try to avoid big groups and stay as healthy as we can.  So far, so good.  I've almost been scared to say for fear of jinxing myself, but Clayton is just doing so well on his therapy.  He has not experienced many of the side effects that are so dreadful and scary with chemo.  Besides a little nausea a week after the Big Chemo, he's been feeling good.  He does get fatigued easier than normal, and he does look very pale, but other than that, if he wasn't bald, I doubt you'd guess anything was going on with him.  I have noticed that he's lost most of his eyelashes too.  This probably adds to his pale appearance.

      We are still waiting to hear what the plan is with radiation.  Honestly, I'm just dreading it.  Chemo is dreadful enough, and to take on the six weeks of radiation with the possible side effects brings knots back to my stomach for sure.  We have been told that it's likely he will lose all hearing in his right ear because of radiation.  As the doctor was telling us this, it was all I could do not to say " Well, you don't know MY God".  I'm not banking on any "for sure" losses for Clayton.  If in doubt about that, remember our kidney miracle.  Speaking of  kidneys, Clayton will have an ultrasound and follow up with the urologist at Cooks next week.  Continue to pray for a great surgical result to show and for opportunities for me to share his miracle with the entire staff in that clinic!! (We are having his follow up at Cooks.. remember his surgery was at Texas Children's... so they need to hear our miracle..right?)

     Clayton still continues to play with his team , The Marlins, at Broughton little league.  He has a great batting average and is hanging right in there with his teamates.  I'm amazed by his ability to just take life one day at a time, face each obstacle with bravery and keep smiling.  Totally amazed!  I was thinking this week about what I used to worry about and how trivial it sounds now. I even remember when we first saw the growth in Clayton's ear, and Dr. Holland suggesting that it could be a wart.  I remember thinking... OH MY GOSH.. A wart in Clayton's ear.  YUCK.. Wow.. how I wish it would have been the wart!  I would encourage us all to really look at life and what concerns each of us. Weed out the trival things.. the worldly things... they DON'T MATTER.   Knowing God,  teaching our kids His goodness, and following His lead should really be our constant focus. Nothing worldly is helping me through this trial... well, maybe cable TV is helping Clayton a little, haha... but the worldly possessions aren't comforting me, or making me feel better about my circumstance. The presence and relationship with My God IS!    He is good. He holds tomorrow.. and He goes before us and shields us.  Even when we don't see or understand, He is with us.  What could be better ? I think nothing!
   As a random family side note, I do have 3 other kids, as you know... Kate spent last week working hard and trying out for Goal Tenders at Midway High School.  I'm proud to say that she'll be under the Friday Night Lights next fall dancing with the team on the field. Congratulations to my Kate!  Can't believe she's headed to high school and can't believe the beautiful lady she has become!