The Incredible Hulk (minus the green make-up)

5:30 a.m. came way too early this morning.

And it sure seems sick and wrong to wake a sleeping baby...

but wake we did.

And you can probably guess what we did to pass the early morning hours:

we watched Cars.

 Kim Worthen volunteered to go with us to the hospital today.

She's a brave one, I tell ya.

In case you don't know Kim, she has a son with Down's, Spencer who is six months

older than Kean.  And Spencer, his two brothers and his dad all shaved

their heads in solidarity when Kean lost his hair to Chemo last year.

Pretty cool family.

Thank heavens she came along-- we needed her muscles.

Three of us held Kean down while the nurse/tech put 27 sensors in precise places

all over his head.  I'm certain they could hear his screams on the other side of the hospital.

 In fact, my ear drums were literally vibrating.  The kid has some lungs!

And an incredible amount of energy for a sleep deprived young 'en.

 He's sporting the mummy look to keep the sensors in place.

 We kept telling him 'almost done' (though I doubt he could even hear us).

The nurse was lightning fast.

 The entire procedure was painless, the boy just hates, hates, hates

being held down.

But once she was done, he settled down-- either that or he was plum out of energy.

 He sat on my lap for the mapping of his brain waves and promptly fell asleep

while drinking some milk.

We had to wake him up for the very end -- the part where they

placed a strobe light about six inches from his face.

I'll be surprised if the mapping shows any seizure activity--

I'm still convinced it is all tied to his chemo medicine and his blood sugar levels

but we'll see.

Just trying to gather some of the puzzle pieces, right?

p.s.  so very glad today is over!!

p.p.s.  all next week we get to coast-- there's not a single medical appointment

or test scheduled!!!

p.p.s.s.  Whoopee!

Party Central

First off, Kean is doing great.

He looks good and he's acting good.

We are so lucky to have a boy who just plows through whatever is bothering him

and gets back to the business of being happy.

We even took him out for his first outing since his surgery-- we

celebrated Ron Moomey and Pam Brown's birthdays with dinner

and lots of desserts at the Moomey's tonight.

 Elly's five sisters leave tomorrow to go back to Holland...

so of course she had to show them her favorite tradition of

spraying the ol' can of whipping cream into the girls' mouths.

It has been party central at the Moomey's this weekend.

On Friday night, my mom took care of Kean while I went

and helped throw Elly's 50th birthday party.

Dutch traditions are hilarious.

First off, tradition holds the birthday girl throws her own party....

and my, what a party it was.

That's Elly in the picture below dressed up like the old lady.

 She wasn't the only one to dress up though...

check out her four sisters all dolled up - sitting outside the front door

to greet everyone in absolute silence.

It was a riot!

We had all kinds of fun gags and tributes inside-- I'm seriously

worried about what she will do to get me back in a few years.

 Byron and the girls showed up for the end of the party.

Greer was involved in the  Valley's regional speed jump rope championship.

Poor girl was a bit off and didn't do as well as she had hoped.

But on the bright side, since she only made it through one of the cuts,

they weren't there all night and still got to come to the party.

Finally, on Saturday, while Kean took a nap, Greer and I ran

downtown for a quick visit to the annual St. Baldrick's

hair shaving fundraiser for cancer research.

 Several of Kean's nurses and a couple doctors we know

shaved for the event-- even a young girl who is battling cancer.

They raised well over a hundred grand.  

Maybe one of these days all that money raised will

do the trick and find a cure.

Fingers crossed!

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Time to celebrate.

Today was the last day for Kean's Steroids (for this month).

Which means...

 all this angst, anger and roid rage will be getting out of his system in the next few days...

 and hopefully we'll see a lot less of this.

And more of the boy we know and love.

(Plus, one week is about my max)!

 We did get a sweet little surprise in the mail today.

Cars band-aids from Deb Winward.

We'll have to take them with us next time he gets his blood draws.



Check!

I took the troops to the dentist today.

We not only survived... but all is well and we don't have to go back for six months!

I was a bit worried about Kean's enamel with all the barfing he's been doing

but all is well.

 He wasn't too happy to have Dr. Meador's fingers in his mouth.

In fact, he "nipped" him a few times.

Thankfully, nothing serious.

The girls all did well (no biting the dentist from them either)!

Chelsea came and picked Kean up and took him to the park

while the rest of the girls had their exams.

The good news is she got him to do a lot of walking.

The bad news?

He cried when the park employees fired up their lawn mowers.

In his world... a lawn mower equates a ride.

Tough lesson to learn today.

But we got a good laugh.

Keanut Gump

You know that's what Byron calls Kean-- ever since he got leg braces.

Kean's ankles are super floppy and he's been hyper extending his knees.

This morning, an Orthopedist made a home visit to check him out and re-measure.

Yes, the parade of appointments never ends.

 The good news is he's getting rid of the higher braces that keep him from

hyper extending his knees-- he's improved in that department.

The bad news is his feet are turning in more, so he's getting a more

aggressive foot brace that will go up to the ankle only.

While we are talking appliances, I got Kean to wear his hearing aid

for a solid 15 to 20 minutes while we read stories and sang songs.

I'm trying to make it a fun time for him (and keep him distracted from yanking it out).

I've really been lax in that department since he got sick.

He had a decent day-- wasn't into doing any therapy whatsoever

and threw up a few times... but he seemed much happier than yesterday

So I think he's getting back to his normal.