Houston we have a Leg!!

FINALLY!! After nearly 6 months of being without his lower right leg, on Tuesday Chris left the Orthopedic Dept. at Nemours with his prosthesis! Not too excited as you can see from the picture!
It was quite the Thanksgiving gift for him as well as I. It has been such a long and arduous journey at times and to see him literally able to put one foot in front of the other was definitely a moment. He is still bound to crutches for support until he learns to walk again with his new leg. Hopefully soon he will be down to one crutch and/or a cane. By the way he adjusted on his first few steps I have a feeling it will not be long. Once he is comfortable with this leg he will most likely move on to a more functional prosthesis that he can use to swim, run or even snowboard in when he is ready. Though his Oncologist would like to see him stay a bit more sedentary until his bones are strong again.
So for me this Thanksgiving was truly a time to give thanks. Considering the odds and what he has been through, every day that Christopher is still with us and is a gift, not to mention the fact that he has maintained a strength and courage I never could have imagined. Being surrounded by so much love, encouragement and support from family and friends has made a big difference as well and I am so grateful, as always to everyone.
It is hard to believe that tomorrow Chris will begin his 18th and FINAL round of Chemo! 10 months ago it was hard to imagine this day would ever come.
So please continue to keep Chris in your thoughts and prayers...we are almost there!
Thank you. Patty

Christopher also got to enjoy Thanksgiving with some of his relatives which was a bonus considering he came close to having to spend this past week in the hospital! He enjoyed seeing his cousins from NH (below) as well as his Aunts, Uncles and grandparents. Of course he thoroughly enjoyed having his appetite on and ate much better than he has in quite some time! Thanks to his "Nonni" for that!

These last few images are from the trip to Hurlburt Airforce Base. Chris got quite the treatment all around. The Special Operations Ground Force Crew showed him the latest weapons AND let him handle them (as Mom looked the other way!). He also got to go aboard a MC130H. Again, going above and beyond Lt. Col. Gedney arranged for the ground maintenance crew to power up the plane so that he could really see how it operates. Very impressive and exciting for my future pilot! Many thanks to Annah for putting the word out and making this trip a reality for Christopher. Thanks also to Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathy for making the trip from Atlanta so that they could share this with us.

I had not seen him this mentally and physically "up" in a long time. He had been looking forward to this for months and was very excited to have finally made it. It made my weekend as well to see him in such good spirits.

And on goes Christopher's Wild Ride!...Whew!

The week started out OK, considering the fact that Chris was in the hospital for 4 long days of Chemo. At least it was a "normal" round, just the usual nausea, vomiting and interrupted sleep. The highlight being a surprise visit from Nana and Grandpa Bill! (Above picture)
Christopher was supposed to be in Orlando with them enjoying a week at Wild Kingdom and Disney's many other attractions but his recent set backs prevented this. So instead they came to him, along with two of their friends and it made a big difference in Chris' day. They live in California so unfortunately the visits are few and far between so this meant a lot to both of us...thanks Nana and Grandpa Bill!
We even got the good news that he needed to take a couple weeks off as the last 2 rounds of chemo were a bit much and could be damaging if he went for three in a row. Good news considering he wanted to be home for Thanksgiving so he could spend time with family and also be in good health for his upcoming trip to Fort Walton.
And then the downturn...
Christopher was discharged late Thursday night. Soon after that he began complaining of a constant headache, followed by extreme fatigue and continued nausea. By Sunday night the headaches were unbearable, he could barely stay awake and he had started to throw up blood. The on call Dr. seemed to think, as we both did, that his hemoglobin and maybe even platelets were low so he was scheduled to come in this past Monday for blood work. If only it were that easy. His blood work came back OK though he was given a transfusion just to be safe. When Christopher's blood pressure continued to drop and the pressure in his head building he had to stay for IV antibiotics and fluids. It sporadically helped the pressure but as soon as we got home after 7 hours in the clinic, he spiked a fever and felt very weak again so we ended up at the local Fire Station to try and get the pressure back up. This went on for over 2 days. The Dr.'s suspected he may have "pseudo tumor cerebri" simply meaning there was something causing undue pressure around his brain. He was scheduled for a head CT and a spinal tap to try and relieve the pressure. Thankfully after yet another day of a IV antibiotics, fluids and a head x-ray, a sever infection in the back of his sinus cavity was discovered. This was actually good news. So again pumped with various antibiotics and an exam to make sure the optical nerves were not too inflamed, his Dr. decided to treat that infection, see if he maintains his pressure and the headaches go away and we could avoid the further testing for now. WHEW!
So that was the latest and I will tell you not what we expected with only one round of chemo left!
As usual my "little man" toughed it out and did not once complain, even given the frightening possibilities we were presented with. He is now home, feeling better and back on track for his much anticipated trip to Hurlburt Field, AFB. Thank God! Special thanks to Lt.Col Edward Gedney for making this happen.
To a much quieter next couple weeks!
Happy Thanksgiving to all. I know I have a lot to be grateful for. Patty

This was the sunset over the St. John's River I witnessed as we left the clinic Monday evening. A welcomed sense of peace to a hectic day and days to follow.

In the midst of Round 17

I was instructed by one Christopher Blackwell himself not to take or use a picture of him, so instead the above is a photo of one of the Blue Angels flying over Atlantic Beach. Fortunately Christopher was well enough to venture on to the beach to catch this part of a local air show. Seeing as this has always been one of his loves it was great to see him out there enjoying the amazing aircraft.
Last week, round 16 of chemo was a tough one as he was quite sick in the beginning of the week. Probably due to his low blood counts going in. This week, however, he is doing very well. He is on round 17, the second to last round before being scanned and tested for clearance from this for hopefully a long while!
He also had a visit with Dr. O'Connor at Mayo Clinic to check on "the stump". All is well there so he does not have to see her for another 2 months...hopefully as she says he is running around on his new leg! Speaking of which, the prosthetist was kind enough to visit Christopher here at Wolfson's so that they could do another try-in of the "socket"-the part of the prosthesis that attaches to his stump. Because of the swelling from the chemo fluids, they will wait until next week to do a final fitting. The goal, for us anyway, is to have his leg before his trip to the Special Forces(Air Force) base in Fort Walton next week. So please keep your fingers crossed.
I think we are both getting a bit anxious as we near completion. It will sure be good to have some time, some long term time at home. I know someone else who would like that too...

For those of you who know Jake, I think you know what a great companion he has been to both of us!
I want to thank my brother Tom for orchestrating the fundraiser efforts in NH and for establishing a paypal account that I have included at the beginning of the blog page. Many thanks also to Grandpa Bill and the IBEW for the flyer that went out to the many Union branches, again in an effort to help raise funds for Christopher's Battle. The continued outpouring of love and support has been amazing and continues to touch my heart. For this I am very grateful to all.
With much love and appreciation, Patty