Happy Trisomy 21 !

I just found out it is World Trisomy 21 (3/21) Down Syndrome Day! I am so glad that everyone is so accepting of Ammon and others who have Down Syndrome. A few years before I was born and earlier, doctors convinced parents their children should be institutionalized. Kids with Down Syndrome were basically good for nothing. I can't imagine that. I love the documentary about John. His parents were told to give him up and after a week they felt so bad and they knew they wanted to raise him and give him a chance. They went to the institution, brought him home, and treated him just like their other children and loved him. Although he couldn't do the same things as everyone else, he brought happiness and joy to their home. I know I have learned so much having a child with Down Syndrome. I enjoy meeting and interacting with the other kids we meet through the Down Syndrome Foundation. They are so cute and happy. They are so pure and innocent, love can just radiate through them. Ammon has cerebral palsy and epilepsy (and now Leukemia) as well, so he can't do as much as those children, but he emits a lot of love. Everyone wants to be loved and be accepted for who they are and those with disabilities are no different. We are grateful to have Ammon in our family and grateful to all those who love him as well. We appreciate everyone who says hi to Ammon, thinks about him, prayers for him, etc., even if you don't get a response. We can tell he appreciates it. Ammon loves the attention.

Well I hope you can smile today like I have. This beautiful spring day has given me a lot of hope that things are getting better. We left the hospital on Thursday night and it was not cold outside. I couldn't believe it. I hadn't been outside all day, so I had no clue it was nice. Then it snowed over the weekend, so we are trying to patiently wait for the warm weather to come back. Ammon is doing much better. It was kind of a stressful weekend, his port wouldn't draw blood back, so the nurse had to come out two times. Brynn was coughing all over and Ammon's counts were still low, so I was trying to keep them apart. Then I think the lack of sleep and everything hit me all at once, so I was worn out, done. Monday at 4:55 we found out that Ammon's blood counts had gone back up, so he is doing great. We get another few weeks off of chemo, they aren't going to have us make up for what we didn't get last week. Hooray. We are almost on to the Maintenance phase, meaning once a month treatments for the next year. So the worst should be over!