On Fire About Gavin's Birthday

Five years ago, at exactly 3:19 in the morning, Gavin entered this world. He had obviously been quite content where he had been hanging out for 9 months because he was stubborn about joining us on this side of the womb. That made for 3 hours and 19 minutes worth of pushing. Oh, how mothers have a way of remembering how long that part of labor lasted! ;) It wasn't until the doctor finally said, "Okay, two more pushes and we're using the forceps!" that he made his entrance. We had a good laugh that he would likely be a child that we would have to threaten often. :)

Looking back, I think he was simply exibiting his strong spirit. A strength that would later be beneficial when he was fighting for his life through cancer. And I think he was letting me know at an early age that his life was not to be taken for granted. Some things would come easily. Others would take a lot of work. And that every bit of effort was worth it.

He's an amazing child. I still don't understand how he could be nice to other people when he was experiencing extreme nausea for over 15 months. How could he want to play again with Garrett just seconds after vomiting? How could he want to love on us when his lips and nose were dripping with blood from sores caused by chemotherapy? How could he even want to get out of bed when he must have felt so awful all of the time?

Yet he did.

The anesthesiologists have told me that it takes more medication to sedate Gavin fully than would normally be expected for a child his age and size. Some would say that it's because he's been sedated so many times before. Others would say he's a fighter and he subconsciously fights losing control.

One anesthesiologist talked about this as well as his twitching. You see, even under a great amount of sedation, Gavin will occasionally twitch. Twitching during an MRI scan of your spine, by the way, is not a good thing. They have to start the whole spine over. It can cause a great delay. So, if your child is ever waiting on an MRI to start and it's over an hour late, there's a chance someone like Gavin barely twitched and they had to start over. Sorry! :)

I digress. (as always)

The anesthesiologist said that he has seen a number of children that twitched like that, even with great amounts of medication on board. He thinks they're subconscious fighters. And he also thinks that those kids tend to do better with cancer treatment. Interesting, huh?

I would have to agree that Gavin's a fighter. He sure knows how to fight with his younger brother, that's for sure! But, he also fought his cancer day in and day out, rarely even complaining. And for that, I will always have the utmost respect for him.

Fittingly, Gavin will have a fire fighter birthday party. He's planning to wear his fire fighter costume as well. Here's a preview...the picture I used for his invitation:

Our fighter. Celebrating the victory of a completed chemotherapy protocol in the picture above. (He looks so tough there, doesn't he?)

Our fighter. Celebrating the victory of 5 years here with us. And we couldn't be prouder.

Happy birthday, my dear Gavin. I love you so very much!!!

Much love,