Thanks for charging us up

I thought a lot on today's post title. "The day after", "Round 2 starts today", "End of the honeymoon", and many more were possible candidates for today's contents. I ended up selecting "Thanks for charging us up" as it reflected a positive outlook to the upcoming 2 scary months and also honored the support and love we have been getting form our well wishers and friends and all the anonymous blog readers.

Shivam's birthday went great. Although the number of visitors were small, I think this was one of the best birthday parties I have seen. The love, energy, caring attitude and attention to Shivam were phenomenal. There was always somebody around him, ready to take him in their arms if he felt weak, or nauseated or tired.

Thank you everybody for sending your wishes along his way. Each wish, each prayer, each love-filled comment, each word of encouragement makes us stronger. Makes us believe more in God. Makes our dream of seeing Shivam getting strong, stronger. It gives a strength that we never knew existed in us. It reduces the pain of seeing our son in pain and in nausea.

Treatment round 2 starts today. It's the first day of the "consolidation" phase. He will be evaluated extensively today for blood counts and other things. From tomorrow earning morning, we will be spending most of the next 2 months in the hospital. God willing, we will generally go in the morning and come back the same day. Almost everyday. Of course, there will be "free" days where his body will be given time to recover from the treatment the previous day. More on the treatment as it occurs. I try not to read too much in the future as it has the nasty habit of biting me back.

I wanted to share some of the moments that we captured on his birthday. It was a hard task to pick the best and I do not claim these to be the best moments. Simply the ones that I felt captured Shivam and his smiles.