Skyler was finally able to stop the vancomycin on thursday...yay!  I was so ready to be done with hooking him up round the clock and so was he.  Also, since he has been off all his oral chemo for the last 10 days that means his ANC is high, a great immune system to go to a family Christmas party with.  I was really excited to take him to this party and to have him play with his cousins that he hasn't seen for awhile.  He was able to run around with all the kids and open presents and just have fun.  Even though his counts are great I still had him wear his mask when he was around everyone just to be on the safe side.  Plus it helped calm me down alittle because honestly I was freaking out inside.  I loved that we were able to go do something normal that we do every year (besides last year) but at the same time it is so hard to try and pretend everything is normal when it is not.  I have had to go from having him live in a bubble to letting him be out in the world again.  When he hit maintenance I was so happy to finally get back to how things used to be.  I never in a million years thought it would be this hard.  I'm having to relearn how to live again but still have in the back of my mind the images of this past year and knowing something as simple as getting a cold so quickly lead to something worse and land him in the ICU again.  I hope one day that this constant struggle will fade and living out in the world become natural again. 

 I tried really hard not to let these feelings show though so Skyler could just relax and have fun.  It worked because look how happy he is in these pictures!